Shades of Gray
by DarthGabithaTheHutt
Summary: AU to season three. Darla gave birth to twins, there are new allies and old enemies in LA and far too many shades of grey. Any comments would be great. Completed 27th August.
1. Chapter 1

If they were on the show, they're not mine. I'm just borrowing them.

_Previously on "Angel":_

"_Time to go visit Daddy," said Darla, raising one eyebrow, hands stroking her swelling belly. _

"_Imagine if you had gone nuts and slept with Darla," said Cordelia. Angel shifted uncomfortably in front of her._

"_Poor woman's big enough to be having twins," said Lorne, looking at the pregnant Darla. _

_The gang crowded around the monitor. "Twins," whispered Wesley. _

"_These children... They're the only good thing we ever did together..." said Darla weakly, looking up at Angel. He took hold of her hand and kissed it. "You make sure to tell them that-" Darla grabbed a piece of wood and staked herself, disappearing in a cloud of dust. _

_Two babies lay in the alley, the rain beating down on their tiny bodies. _

xxx

Two figures stood on a hillside, faces shadowed by the long robes that they wore.

"Where is the Hunter?" one asked. He had an old voice, the voice of an elder who thinks he knows best and isn't afraid to let people know it.

"She's coming," the other snapped. He just sounded pissed off. "She'll be here." He hated being here, hated having to see her like this, but the Elders didn't know or didn't care. He was going for the latter.

"The Elders do not appreciate lateness, John," the first man said. John rolled his eyes and turned away to watch the path. His mouth stretched in a grin as he saw a young woman running up the hill towards them. Her robes hung open, showing jeans and a worn brown leather jacket. Her black hair was coming out of its plait and there was blood on her hands. It almost hid the tattoos on her left hand.

"Sorry," she gasped, skidding to a halt in front of the two men. "Spot of bother with a Selkath Demon."

"You are late," the older man said. "A Hunter should understand the importance of punctuality."

"Actually, I'm meant to understand pain, chaos, mayhem. And personally I think I'm very good at those."

"Are you threatening your betters?"

"Of course not. I'm threatening _you._"

"Neela, how dare you-"

"The Elders have a job for you," John butted in. He wanted this over with. "We're sending you to LA. The Prophecy has been fulfilled-"

"Which prophecy?" asked Neela, crossing her arms over her chest. "There are quite a few out there."

"The one about Angelus having a son and a daughter," said the man. "We need you to-"

She snorted. "Screw you. I might be your bitch but I'm not having anything to do with Angelus."

"You'll do it. You have a duty to perform. Unless, of course, you'd like to argue some more with us," the man said. His eyes glowed with dark power, making her step back.

"No more arguing then. But you let me do this my way, clear?"

"Be subtle this time, Jo'Nekra," the man said. "We do not need any attention drawn to us."

"Got it," she said, turning to face John. "Nice to see you, brother."

John ground his teeth, fingers itching to pull out his magnum pistol and blast her out of this world. But he couldn't. Not yet.

"Jo'Nekra," he said, inclining his head slightly.

She turned away again. "So, what do I need to know?"

xxx

The gang had hurried back to the hotel, sending Wesley to get much-needed baby supplies. Gunn stared around at the ruined equipment and the broken cages, the dead bodies and the splattered blood of Wolfram and Hart's men.

"Whoa," he said. That pretty much summed it all up.

"We should be careful. Whatever was in those cages might still be around," Fred said, standing next to the larger cage. She spotted the large label on the side, the one saying 'mother'. "Oh." She pulled the label off and scrunched it up in her hand.

Angel and Cordelia came in, each holding one of the children. "They need to go to a hospital," Cordelia was saying.

"Why? They're not sick," Angel said, suddenly worried.

"For their newborn check-up, idiot," said Cordelia, rocking the baby girl she held in her arms. "And we'll have to make some changes around here. Covers for the outlets, childproof locks on the weapons' cabinet. That kind of thing."

All of them spun around as Wesley burst though the door, a large paper bag in his arms.

"Someone followed me," he said. The gang leapt into action – Angel and Cordelia hid the children behind the reception desk with Fred to watch over them, Wesley dropped the bag and caught the crossbow Gunn threw him. Angel grabbed his favourite broadsword and Cordelia pulled out a stake, a weapon she at least knew how to use.

Lorne stumbled in, shaking rain water off his horns. He saw the various weapons pointed at him and pouted.

"Is that any way to treat a houseguest?" he asked. "As you all blew up my club, I thought it wouldn't be intruding of I asked for a place to stay." He dropped his suitcase on the floor. Gunn opened his mouth to argue, and then closed it again, putting his weapon down.

Angel went to check on twins, his sword still in his hand. The twins took one look at him and both burst into tears. He hurriedly put the sword down and picked up the baby boy, rocking him awkwardly. Cordelia tucked the stake back into her jacket and took the girl. The girl stopped crying. The boy, in Angel's arms, just got louder.

"What did I do?" he asked, looking around. Gunn, grinning hugely, took the baby from Angel.

"He's just hungry," he told Angel. "Also, broadsword plus tiny child equals crying. You might wanna remember that, you know."

As Angel started trying to mix up some baby formula, Wesley and Fred set up a whiteboard in the middle of the lobby. With Lorne and Gunn chipping in at points, they began to make a list of the enemies that the twins might have. Cordelia went on line to see what enemies the twins definitely had.

"This is a sick world. There are already three websites offering money for the kids and someone's put a bounty of $50,000 on them," Cordelia said, still holding the baby girl.

"Can you find out who?" Angel asked, abandoning the formula. Fred left the boys and came to help Cordelia. In a matter of moments, she scribbled down an address and handed it to Angel.

"It'll take more time to get the others, but this is the bounty office. It's in a bar downtown," she said.

"Tell me you're not going to Thanatos Misthos," Lorne said worriedly. Angel glanced at the piece of paper and nodded. "No, no, Angelcakes. You cannot go there."

"Thanatos Misthos?" Gunn asked.

"It means 'Death's Reward'. Demon/human bar that deals in bounties on just about anything and one. It's not a good place to be…" Lorne trailed off as Angel put on his coat and walked out of the hotel.

xxx

Thanatos Misthos was a seedy, run down bar. A sign on the wall said "Anyone starting a fight will be eviscerated". Angel didn't think they were exaggerating.

The bar was full of demons and humans. Angel got a few dirty looks from the demons but no one tried anything. It seemed this bar was as much neutral territory as Caritas was. Or had been, more accurately. Most of the humans looked like bikers, large men with larger muscles and unkempt beards. The only exception was a young woman with long black hair and wearing a brown leather jacket. She looked tired and a little annoyed, but more approachable than anyone else in this place. Angel didn't dare consider what he was doing for even a moment and walked over to her.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked.

"Free country," she replied, turning to look at him. "Uh, would you stop that? I'm not the weirdest person here, you know," she continued as Angel kept his eyes on her.

"Hey, do I know you?" he said.

"Really doubt it," she replied. "You new?"

Angel nodded, wondering how she knew. "I want to get a bounty taken off someone," he said.

"You need to talk to Mark. He's the green scaly guy with a really bad taste in shirts," the girl pointed to a demon sitting at a table. "But you'll need cash to make it happen and a good reason why. Who's the bounty on?"

Angel hesitated before answering. "A couple of kids."

The girl looked surprised. "Really? Normally there's an age limit on bounties. Well, talk to Mark. He'll help if he can, but if the bounty has been out too long, he might not be able to do anything about it. Word travels fast in these circles."

Angel opened his mouth to ask her what her name was just as her phone went off. She pulled out the small mobile and flipped it open.

"What? No, I haven't found them yet. A bounty's gone out, I don't know who from. Yes, I'll find them first," she listened for a moment, frowning. "Yeah, well, I'd like to see you do any better. See you in hell." She angrily slammed the phone shut and downed the remainder of her whisky. Seeing Angel's look, she smiled in a way that had nothing to do with humour. "Families are the worst."

Angel was saved from having to reply when the demon got up from his table and gestured at the girl. She walked over to him and bent down so they could whisper together. Angel strained his ears but could only make out a few words.

"You're sure it's him?" the demon said.

"Positive. Look, can you keep him here as long as possible? This is going to be difficult enough without Angelus getting involved," the girl muttered.

"Why do you care about this bloodsucker?"

"I don't. My business is with his kids. Now, give me the address. I'm gonna finish this once and for all."

The demon passed the girl a small piece of paper. She clasped his shoulder in thanks and started slipping through the crowd to the exit. Angel stood up, intending to follow her, but the demon came up to him, smiling.

"You must be Angel," he said, holding out his hand. Angel ignored him and tried to get through the crowd to follow the girl. Two of the large bikers stood up to block his way.

"Get out of my way," Angel ordered, his hands curling up into fists. The bikers grinned at each other and stepped forward. Angel morphed into his vamp face, pleased to see their eyes widen. He really didn't have time for this.

xxx

Angel burst out of Thanatos Misthos, leaving a pair of unconscious bikers behind him. The girl was at the end of the deserted street, standing next to a motorbike with a bag tied on the back. Angel watched as the girl pulled a small pistol out of the bag and carefully loaded it. She put the pistol into a holster she had strapped across her hips.

As she picked up a helmet, Angel began to move stealthily up the street. He wasn't sure who this girl was but he really didn't like what he had heard in the bar. He was only a few feet away from her when his foot hit an abandoned bottle. The girl spun around.

"What do you want, bloodsucker?" Her gun was already in her hand, the helmet in the other.

"Bullets won't kill me," Angel said, coming forward. The girl backed up.

"They're not for you, Angelus," she said.

Angel let him vamp face show. "You stay the hell away from my kids," he ordered. Part of him hoped the girl would refuse. He really needed a good fight.

The girl frowned at him. "What did you-?"

Angel didn't wait for her to finish. He had been looking for something to fight all day and he seemed to have found it in this girl. He punched her in the face, trying to grab her wrist at the same time.

The girl reacted at the same moment. She swung the helmet around, hitting Angel on the side of the head. She was strong for a human. Angel knocked the gun out of her hand, catching her wrist and twisting it up behind her back. His other hand went for her throat. The girl froze.

"If you're going to kill me, make sure you get all the Kalif demons. They're down at the docks," the girl swallowed. "They put the bounty on your kids. Kill them and the bounty's off."

Angel hesitated, thoroughly thrown off balance. "What?" His grip on the girl's neck slackened slightly.

The girl slammed her head back. She was small enough to hit his chin rather than his nose but it still hurt. The shock of this new attack made Angel jerk back and the girl wrenched her wrist free. She slammed both elbows into Angel's ribs and jumped forward, bringing the helmet around again to hit Angel in the face. He fell back, stunned.

She snatched up her pistol as Angel climbed unsteadily to his feet. He leapt forward but the girl spun round, and twisted on one foot, bringing the other up to slam into Angel's gut. As Angel doubled over, the girl clambered onto the motorbike and kicked it into life.

Angel watched the girl go. Shaking his head at his own idiocy, he ran across the street to where his car was parked. In a matter of moments, he was following the girl. And when he caught up with her, there would be hell to pay.

The girl was obviously used to riding her bike. She swerved through the traffic at death-defying speeds, making it hard for Angel to follow her. His instincts told him to race back to the hotel, but he suddenly realised that the girl was heading in the wrong direction if she was going after the kids. Intrigued, he carefully stayed on her trail, doing his best not to lose her or let her know she was being followed.

The girl headed towards the docks, stopping the bike finally in front of a large warehouse. She climbed off the bike and stretched as Angel stopped the car a short distance away. He watched from the shadows as she brought a pair of short swords out of the bag on the back of the bike and strapped them across her back. Then she checked the door to the warehouse, being careful not to make any noise. Angel sniffed the air; he could make out the scents of demons and plenty of them. What was it the girl had said? Something about Kalif demons? Kalif demons were big, nasty and tended to wander around in gangs of anything between three and twenty. From the scents, Angel would guess that this group was closer to twenty.

His thoughts were interrupted when the girl backed up and lifted a foot to kick the door down. Angel dashed out of hiding and pulled the girl away from the door, slamming her up against the opposite wall. He was careful to pin both her arms. The girl tried to kick out, Angel slammed her into the wall until she stopped.

"Who are you?" he asked. The girl glared at him. He slammed her back into the wall. "Who are you?" he asked again.

"My name's Neela," she said. "Now let me go, you son of a-"

"What are you doing here?" Angel interrupted.

"Going shopping," she spat. Angel slammed her into the wall yet again. "Hunting Kalifs."

"Why?"

"Someone has to." Neela said. She tried to pull free, but Angel tightened his grip and she gave up. "These are the guys who put the bounty on your kids. They die, the bounty is off, I told you."

"So you were just going to take on twenty Kalifs on your own?"

"It's none of your damn business, but this is what I do best," she replied. "And there are only sixteen of them."

Angel slowly let go of Neela and stepped away. She glared at him and took one of the swords off her back.

"You can't fight sixteen demons on your own," he said. She ignored him and turned back to the warehouse. Angel darted in front of her. "Why are you doing this?"

Neela shrugged. "Why do you care?"

"Let me help you," Angel said. "You need someone to watch your back."

"Sure you don't mean my neck?" Neela asked. When Angel didn't react, she sighed and nodded. "Fine. Whatever. Now, can we get on with this? I'm kinda on a schedule here."

Neela walked forward and kicked the door down, pulling a small cylinder out of her pocket and chucking it in. There was a muffled explosion and a lot of shrieking.

"Flare bomb," she said to the stunned Angel. "Kalifs don't like the light."

And then she was gone, darting into the warehouse, sword in one hand and gun in the other. Angel ran after her. Half of the demons had been blinded by the flare bomb and Neela was already making good progress with the others. Angel slammed into two demons, cracking their skulls together and throwing them into the wall as Neela ran one through with her sword. Three down, thirteen to go.

Angel was interested to see that Neela's estimation of the number of Kalifs was spot on. She also clearly knew how to handle herself in a fight. He grabbed one demon and snapped its neck. Neela shot three demons and threw the sword at another, decapitating it. A Kalif grabbed her wrist and twisted. The gun fell from her fingers. Neela punched the demon twice with her free hand, then brought her leg up to kick it in the ribs. A knife appeared in her hand and she quickly stabbed the demon in the throat. Pulling the knife free, she threw it past Angel to hit a demon in the centre of his forehead.

The remaining five demons tried to ambush Angel, with the leader still waiting to one side. Angel threw one of them into another as Neela jumped forward to help. She pulled one Kalif off Angel and kicked it in the chest. As it reeled back, she slammed the palm of her hand up into its nose, sending bone fragments up into its brain. It collapsed. Angel had already dealt with the three other demons which left only the leader to be dealt with.

The Kalif leader stood up.

"Hunter," it hissed. "You have no place here. You should not have returned to Los Angeles."

"Did you really think I wouldn't be here to stop you?" Neela said. "After putting that bounty on a pair of kids who have done nothing wrong?" She sounded furious and Angel wondered again exactly why she was doing this.

"Did you really think this would make a difference?" the Leader asked, voice smooth. "Others will still come. More like you, for starters."

Neela picked up the gun again and calmly shot the Kalif demon through the head and heart. As he body fell to the floor, Neela gathered up her sword and knife. Angel watched her and noticed for the first time how she was cradling her wrist.

"You're hurt," he said as Neela headed for the door. She paused for a moment, looking at him strangely.

"And you care because?" she asked.

"Why you're helping my kids," Angel said.

Neela smiled at that. "I'm just doing what I'm ordered to."

Angel followed her to her bike. "Ordered?"

"I work for these weird guys. Big on the demon hunting and protecting their own interests. They want me here, so here I came." She climbed onto the bike.

Angel put a hand on her arm. "You gonna be ok?" he asked.

Neela grinned at him. "Advanced healing comes with the package," she said.

Angel pulled one of the Angel Investigations business cards and passed it to her. "Call if you need anything," he said.

Neela looked about to refuse but then she took the card and flipped it over, bringing a pen out of her pocket and scribbling on the back for a moment.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," she passed the card back to Angel. He saw the number she had written on the back. Neela started up the bike and drove off before Angel could reply or argue.

xxx

The nurse handed the babies back to Angel and Cordelia. "I'm happy to report you have two healthy babies. We gave them their PKUs and their vitamin Ks and they're doing well. We, uh, we don't seem to have their names."

"Connor and Caitlin Angel," Angel said, holding the newly-named Caitlin. The nurse smiled and wrote it down, leaving Cordelia and Angel alone with the twins.

"Nice names," Cordelia said, rocking baby Connor.

"I don't suppose you ever considered Wes-" Wesley started.

"No!" said Angel and Cordelia simultaneously. Fred giggled as Wesley grinned, embarrassed.

"So, uh, what about that girl?" he asked, quickly.

Angel shrugged. "She knows where we are."

At that moment, Gunn came through the hospital double doors with a double pushchair. "I got the best one a very small amount of money could buy," he joked.

Neela was watching as the gang left the hospital. It seemed that the twins were safe where they were. It looked like the twins would be happy where they were, too. Neela smiled to herself. She could make this situation work. She had to.

xxx

It was with only a slight degree of embarrassment that Neela approached Angel Investigations. She was acutely aware of just how awkward this was going to be.

When she entered the lobby, the only person in sight was a man sitting at the desk with his nose buried in a book. Neela coughed tactfully, and smiled when the man jumped.

He took off his glasses. "Sorry," he said. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Angel. Got some news for him," Neela said. "I'm Neela."

"Wesley Wyndham-Pryce," Wesley said, holding out his hand. Neela had just shaken it when Gunn came in, chatting with Fred.

"I'm telling you, one of these days you are going to explode," he was saying. Neela, always on edge, spun around and stared. Gunn caught sight of her. "Nee? Is that you?" he asked, amazed.

"Oh my God," Neela said, coming forward to hug Gunn. "What the hell are you doing here, Gunn?"

"I take it you two know each other," said Wesley, now thoroughly thrown off balance.

"We met back in my gang days," Gunn explained. "Nee fought with us for a couple of months, helped us a lot."

"I just gave you some pointers," Neela corrected. "What are you doing here?"

"Workin' with Angel," Gunn said. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Angel. Know where he is?"

"Upstairs. Come on."

They walked up the stairs, leaving Wesley and Fred chatting about some science magazine or other.

"What?" Neela asked when Gunn kept giving her odd looks.

"I just... I can't believe you're back. You always said you'd never come back to LA."

"Well, things change, I guess."

"So you're gonna stick around this time?"

Neela smiled. "Hopefully. How's the gang?"

"Not so good. We've lost a lot, saved a few more."

"Lost who?" Neela asked, worried. It had been years, but she still cared about the gang.

"Bobby, George," Gunn paused, swallowing. "Alonna. Some new kids."

"Shit, I'm sorry. Vampires?"

"Every last one."

"And now you can work with a vampire? Even after all that?"

"Mostly. Some days I hate him, but he's ok. For a vamp."

"For a vamp," Neela agreed thoughtfully.

xxx

Angel was just putting the twins down for a nap when Neela knocked on the door.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey. How's the wrist?" Angel asked. Neela shrugged.

"Good, but not why I came," she said, coming forward to drop a bag on the floor. "The Kalifs were hired by some guys from Wolfram and Hart. Mark won't accept any more bounties on the kids 'til they're old enough to fight for themselves, which gives you eighteen years. But he doesn't have any authority over Wolfram and Hart. I can't help you there."

Angel nodded. "I think I know how to deal with Wolfram and Hart."

"Good. 'Cause they're way out of my league," Neela grinned. "Demons, I can deal with but lawyers? Too creepy for the likes of me. Well, I'll see you around." She turned to leave.

"Come and meet the twins," Angel said quickly. "That's Connor and Caitlin is that one."

Neela tickled Connor. "They're sweet kids. Oh, yeah, their bounty's in the bag. Mark gave it to me for them."

"But the bounty was huge, $50,000," Angel protested.

"Looking after kids is expensive. You'll need it more than me," Neela said. "And you did fight for it, even if you didn't mean to. Also,I may have taken a little of it to pay for food and the rent."

"Thank you," Angel said. "For everything."

"Don't thank me yet. Long way to go before the kids will be safe, if ever." She looked at Angel out of the corner of her eye. "They're never going to have a normal childhood. You know that, right?" Angel nodded. "They're important. Like, really important. And God knows you've got enough enemies for them to inherit a few."

Angel nodded again. "So what are you going to do now?" he asked.

Neela shrugged again. "Make the world a better place. And right now, the best way for me to do that is to go and stake a couple of vamps. No offence," she added.

"None taken."

"I'll be around if you need help," Neela waved to the twins and left. As she saw how Angel looked at the twins, she couldn't quite control that flicker of jealousy she had felt outside the hospital. She couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have a family like the twins did.

xxx

Lilah shoved past Gavin into Linwood's office, shutting the door firmly behind her.

"Two," she said. "Angel has two children! Twins, of all things."

Linwood looked up. "The prophecies talked about death, not twins."

"That blonde bitch staked herself for her children, that was the death. The children are human, at least from what their doctor says."

"Don't be stupid, Lilah. Two vampires could not possibly produce humans."

_Nor could a vampire get pregnant in the first place, you arrogant son of a bitch, _Lilah thought.

"What do the Senior Partners say?" Linwood continued.

"The only message coming through is 'let life do what it will'," she reported, reading the message off a scrap of paper. "We have the best experts on prophecy translation working on it as we speak."

"How fast are they working?"

"We have their families under our control. If they do not have some interpretations before the end of day, someone they love will die."

"Kill someone's wife. We need to know what to do, now."

"Of course, sir," Lilah said. She knew the meeting was over, and so exited the room, making a point of bumping into Gavin on the way out.

As she gave the necessary orders, Lilah found herself missing Holland Manners. He had had class, at least.

He would've killed someone's mistress.

xxx

It was just after dawn when Neela made it back to her new apartment. There were more vamps in LA than she liked and she just had to try and thin their numbers a bit. She could stake vamps till the cows came home and then gang up with the cows and kill some more, yet still not make a dent in their numbers. She enjoyed it anyway. Killing vampires was more personal that killing demons. And much tidier.

She locked the door behind her, dropping the keys on a small table. She had got the apartment cheap and for the amount she was paying, it was great.

"I got to say, I love what you've done with the place," said a voice behind her. Neela spun around, pulling the gun out of its holster. "Don't worry, kid. I can't hurt you."

A man stepped out of the shadows, but Neela had trouble making him out even when he was in the light. She couldn't understand why she hadn't heard him before.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

The man grinned at her, fiddling with a pack of cards in his hands. "Call me Doyle."

xxx

Please leave a comment or two...


	2. Chapter 2

"Doyle?" echoed Neela. The man nodded. "Ok, fine." She tossed the gun onto the unmade bed and rubbed her eyes. "Nice to meet you. Get out already." When the man didn't move, she glared at him.

"Can't do that," Doyle said, his Irish accent obvious. "Firstly, I'm not really here. Secondly, you need help."

"People have been saying that for years. Why will I listen to you?" Neela said.

"You're way out of your league," Doyle said. "You know why you were sent here, right?"

"The Clan wanted me as far away as possible?" Neela offered. "Or because they still think I'm evil?"

"You know you're meant for better things, right?"

"Look, I know my place."

"Which is?"

"None of your business. Although I get the impression you already know," Neela said thoughtfully. "Not that this isn't fun, but who sent you?"

"The Powers That Be." Doyle waited for the normal reaction ("Powers that be what?"), but Neela accepted his words. This girl knew her stuff. "I was really just meant to be a messenger, but, what the hell, I seem to be branching out. I used to be a guide for Angel, now I have to guide you."

"So you used to be a guide, were meant to be a messenger. What are you now?"

"Dead."

"Really."

Doyle shrugged and put his arm through a wall, idly dipping his fingers through worn plaster.

"Ok, so why is there a dead guy in my room?" Neela asked. "Should I be calling Ghost-Busters, maybe a priest?"

"I'm here to guide you, Neela. Your personal battle with evil needs a little more direction-"

"I don't take orders," Neela cut in. "Especially not from the Powers That Screw You."

"No orders then. How do you feel about suggestions?"

"I tend to ignore suggestions from people I don't trust."

"Who on earth or beyond it do you trust then?"

"Not the topic on debate." Neela turned away.

"You ignore me, people are going to die." Doyle said to her back.

Neela hesitated. "What… What sort of suggestions?"

"Where to be and when, what you should be fighting, that sort of thing," Doyle shrugged. "I mean, for example, you might want to be at the Coffee Stop on third by eight tomorrow evening."

"Maybe I'll be there," Neela said. "Now get out of my home."

xxx

Learning to live with a pair of newborn babies had not been easy to say the least. Without Cordy and the others, Angel would never have coped, he knew that. Although, having a girl he barely knew fighting on his side was bugging him even more than getting the twins to go to sleep.

And Cordy had had a vision of a vamp attack on a coffee shop tonight.

Which was bad, because people might get hurt, but good because Angel was going to get to fight something. And he really needed to fight something.

Angel grabbed a vampire, pulling it away from the woman it had leapt on. Slamming his fist into its face stunned it for a second as Wes threw him a stake to finish it. Gunn kicked the legs out from under another vamp and quickly staked it before it could react.

The vampire disappeared in a cloud of dust as two more pulled Wesley away. He kicked one in the stomach, yanking his arm free from the second. He threw the vampire round into the other, knocking them both down.

As Angel staked another vampire and ran to help Gunn, Wesley pulled one of the vampires up and punched it, bringing out a second stake to kill it. The vampire intercepted his thrust with the stake and knocked it out of his hand, throwing Wesley back into the wall. He fell down, stunned, and the vampire dived in, going for the throat.

Wesley gaped as the vampire fell to dust, revealing Neela grinning at him. She offered her hand and helped Wesley up.

"Nice to see you again," she said. The last vampire tried to sneak up on them and before Wesley could even open his mouth to say anything, Neela spun round and threw her stake. It hit the vampire square in the chest.

"Bulls eye!" she said, grinning. "Man, I haven't pulled that off for months."

Angel and Gunn came running around the corner. "Wes, you ok?" the vampire said.

Wesley nodded as Neela picked up the stake, tucking it back into the pocket of her black jeans. "Angel," she said, still smiling.

"Neela," he replied. "What are you doing here?"

"The Powers sent me a message." Neela avoided mentioning the word 'Doyle'. Saying you talked with a dead guy, particularly a dead guy Angel apparently knew, would not be a good idea. "How'd you know to be here?" she asked, changing the subject quickly.

"Cordelia has visions from the Powers," Gunn explained.

"Visions? They couldn't just send a memo?" Neela said. "Oh, Gunn, Rondell said he wants to talk. And you might want to keep a closer eye on the English guy." She grinned as Wesley almost squeaked with outrage.

"I can hold my own, thank you," said Wesley, knocking dust off his coat.

"Of course you can. Wolfram and Hart dealt with?" Neela asked. Angel nodded. "Cool. There's a soul sucker on the other side of town that's gotta be taken care of, so I should get going. Sweet bounty on it, too."

"You need any help?" Angel asked. Neela shook her head and walked off, humming to herself under her breath. Angel frowned after her.

"I'll see you guys back at the hotel," he said, waiting for Neela to reach the end of the street before following.

xxx

Angel leapt from rooftop to rooftop, easily keeping up with Neela despite her speed. He didn't know why he was following her, but a feeling in his gut told him this was something he had to do.

He watched and followed as Neela made her way across town, and waited when she called in at a weapon's dealer on route. Angel made a mental note to talk to the dealer later. He was going to find out about Neela anyway he could.

xxx

"Here, little soul sucker," Neela said in a sing-song voice. "Why don't you come out and play?" She had been searching for the wretched demon for _ages_ and, to be honest, she was getting bored. Neela liked her job. She could choose her own hours, who she worked with and, hey, kicking the crap out of demons was a great way to spend an evening. Provided the demon was actually there to be kicked. "Where are you?" she muttered, shrugging off her leather jacket and putting it down to one side. She could almost smell the soul sucker. It was here, somewhere.

The soul sucker materialised behind Neela. A small, skinny demon with claws six inches long on one of its hands, it raised its set of claws and stabbed forward.

Neela ducked on instinct, the claws missing her throat by no more than a few centimetres, and spun round to face the demon. The soul sucker roared and slashed with the claws, catching Neela on the shoulder. Neela grabbed the arm, twisting round and snapping the brittle bone. She clung onto the broken arm and kicked the soul sucker in the back, knocking it forward but using her grip on it to slam it into the ground harder than normal.

At the moment, she had the advantage and she had to kill the demon before she lost it. Once the soul sucker regained control, it could make itself as insubstantial as smoke. Neela picked up the demon and threw it into the wall, pleased to hear a crack from its skull. The soul sucker kicked out backwards and got Neela in the stomach. She fell to the ground, winded.

When she scrambled to her feet, the soul sucker had disappeared. Neela gulped air into her lungs, trying to keep calm. She had never fought a soul sucker before, not alone, but she knew that the demon wouldn't have run. It would have smelt her blood – her theoretically-human, soul-infested blood – from the cuts on her shoulder and now it would want to taste it. She turned to look in every direction, trying to see the flicker in the air that might give away its position. Instincts screaming at her, she looked up at roof of the building next to her. Neela narrowed her eyes; that couldn't possibly be someone watching her from the rooftop...

At that moment, the soul sucker reappeared, throwing itself against Neela and knocking her to the ground. It knelt on her chest and lifted the clawed hand. Neela bucked furiously, trying to dislodge it. She managed to work one arm free as the claws plummeted towards her heart.

Neela grabbed the demon's wrist just as the claws pierced her skin. Soul sucker and girl pitted their strength against each other as Neela fought to keep the claws out of her heart. Gritting her teeth – she had not survived hell on earth for almost twenty five years to be killed by a soul sucker – Neela forced the claws up and out of her skin, slowly twisting them to face the demon. With a grunt of effort, she forced the claws forward and through the demon's throat. The green blood splattered across her face and chest as the soul sucker died.

Neela shoved the corpse off her and stood up, feeling a little shaky. The cuts on her shoulder and chest were stinging. She knew that cuts from soul suckers became infected far more quickly than most and pulled the strap of her tank top aside to look at them. The ones on her shoulder were pretty deep and ached when she tried to move her shoulder. Neela sighed and picked up her old leather jacket, slipping it on and wrapping her arms around herself. She was shaking and not even the comforting smell of the jacket could soothe her. It was a long time since she had let herself come that close to losing. And in her line of work, there was no chance to try again.

"That was most impressive," said a voice behind her. Neela jumped. She was getting really annoyed with people sneaking up on her. "But if you don't mind, I have a few suggestions." The speaker came forward, a middle-aged man. A woman with red hair and some serious attitude was standing just behind him.

"Who the hell are you?" Neela asked.

"I'm Daniel Holtz. This is Justine Cooper," said the man. Neela gaped at him.

xxx

Up on the roof, Angel felt his jaw drop. This evening hadn't told him anything about Neela, except for she was definitely a good fighter. And now one of the biggest threats to the twins was calmly approaching her.

"I'm Daniel Holtz. This is Justine Cooper," Holtz said.

Angel was itching to attack the smug little vampire hunter, but this situation had opened too many questions for him to butt in now.

"Holtz?_ The_ Holtz? The one that hunted demons, like, two hundred years ago?" Neela asked, looking impressed. Angel stared at her from his vantage point. "You were legendary! You got almost 400 vamps. And you're not even a more-than-human guy!"

"You've heard of me, Neela?" Holtz said, surprised but pleased and smiling.

"How do you know my name?" Neela asked. Angel caught the note of suspicion in her voice. She obviously had never met Holtz before, despite her knowledge of his past deeds.

"I know many things, my child. Like you need not fight alongside the Devil to save the innocent of this age."

"Angel isn't the Devil, sir. Just a demon. And if you're here to try and convince me to join your team in ridding earth of the evil Angelus, the answer's no." Neela said. "I've already chosen a side. He does have a soul now, you know."

"Does a soul make that much of a difference? There is evil in him. He has butchered hundreds, thousands of people-"

"He's not the same person he was back then," Neela interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Are you really so blind, child?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, sir."

Holtz smiled, falsely polite, and gestured to Justine. As the strange pair was leaving, he turned back. "He'll turn on you, Neela. It's in his nature."

"He won't be the first, sir. Please, just leave."

Angel watched as Holtz and his companion left, leaving Neela alone. Angel slowly moved across the roof to the ladder leading to the street and clambered down.

"What do you want, Angel?"

Angel came out of the shadows, surprised. "How did you know I was there?"

"I can always tell when you're around. My skin starts crawling," Neela said nastily. "You were following me, weren't you?"

There didn't seem to be much use in denying it. "Yeah."

"I'm only going to say this once. I want to work with you. You feel differently, say something and I'll respect your wishes. But don't you dare sneak around behind my back, all right?" Neela said. Angel could smell the anger rolling off her.

"I'm sorry, it's just… I know almost nothing about you."

"So ask questions," Neela said, rolling her shoulder experimentally and wincing as it protested.

"What are you?"

Neela sat down on an old crate, still examining her wound. "Human, in theory, but these days, who knows?"

"You fight pretty well for someone your age," Angel said, sitting down next to her. "Actually, how old are you?"

"I'm twenty four and I've been trained for this work since I could walk and talk. Been fighting since I was fourteen or so, with quite a lot of back up."

"Ten years," Angel murmured. "Most slayers don't last that long." He reached over and took Neela's hand away from the cuts. "Don't fuss at it," he said, looking at the cuts for himself. "Come on. We can clean this back at the hotel. And we need to look into Holtz's new friend."

"How come nobody told me a guy like Holtz was around?" Neela said as she pulled herself to her feet. She swayed slightly and Angel quickly put one arm around her to support her.

"Hey, him turning up scared the hell outta me when it happened," Angel said, helping Neela out of the alley.

xxx

Neela sat in the lobby of the hotel, Cordelia sitting next to her with bandages and antiseptic. Neela was still shaken from her fight and meeting with Holtz and thoroughly determined not to show it. Angel was in his office, the twins in a cot next to his desk. The rest of the gang was talking about the woman Holtz had brought with him. Angel had scarcely told them what had happened before Fred had fired up her laptop. The lengthy computer search she started for a Justine Cooper came up with the suspicious details of the death of a Julia Cooper, twin sister of Justine.

"I don't get it," Gunn said, sitting on the reception desk and drinking obscene amounts of coffee. "What was wrong with those demons he had? Why choose humans?"

"Because they want the same thing he does, in a way," said Neela, coming to look over Fred's shoulder at the picture of Julia Cooper. "I think I heard something about a Cooper woman in Thanatos Misthos. Waging war on the demon world, or some such thing, payment for what happened to her sister. You'd be surprised how many people start fighting when they lose someone and find out why. Not to mention, they normally take all vampires as an insult to their dead friend. You tend to fight harder with that sort of encouragement, or when you've got nothing left to lose."

"So, assuming Holtz has more than one new friend, all of them know how to fight vampires and think they're all evil," Wesley said.

"And Holtz will definitely tell them all about what Angelus did all those years ago," Cordelia added.

Neela pulled the jacket over her slightly-bloody top and bandages. "Yay, just what we need. More enemies. I'll ask around tomorrow, see what kind of numbers we're looking at."

"Where are you going?" Gunn asked.

"To get some sleep," Neela said, rubbing her eyes. "I think my head is about to explode. See you later."

"Neela, how far away do you live?"

Neela turned to look at Angel. "Other side of town, why?"

"Wes, give her a lift back," Angel ordered. Wesley grabbed his jacket as Neela rolled her eyes.

"Ten years, remember?" she said. "I'll be fine." Angel looked at her, daring her to keep trying to argue. "Ok, fine, I'll go with Wesley. Call me if anything comes up."

The pair walked outside into the dark LA streets, Neela stretching in an effort to loosen her rapidly stiffening shoulder. Of course, Lorne chose that moment to walk straight into Neela. Neela, still edgy, grabbed him and threw him against a wall before Wesley could stop her.

"No! Neela, it's just Lorne," he yelled. Neela looked from Wesley to the green demon she had pinned against the wall. She let Lorne go, with an embarrassed, apologetic smile.

"I take it this is Neela," said Lorne, tugging his suit straight. "Nice to meet you."

"Hi. Sorry," Neela said. Lorne nodded to the pair of them and went inside to join the others. "Well, that wasn't at all awkward."

"Are you always so tense?" Wesley asked. Neela chuckled to herself.

"Mostly. But, hey, the last guy I threw into a wall the first time we met ended up becoming my best friend." Neela looked through the door at Lorne. "But hopefully that was the exception and not the rule," she said thoughtfully. She and Wesley started to walk around the hotel to where his car was.

"He didn't find your world at all worrying?"

"Liam comes from a Watcher family, he was all set up to spend the rest of his life with books and prophecies and translations, but, boy, could he kick ass. He knew exactly what was going bump in the night."

"Where is he now?" Wesley asked.

"Ireland, last I heard." There was a moment of awkward silence before Neela spoke again. "So, what's you're deal?"

"My deal?" Wesley echoed. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with this conversation as they approached Wesley's car and climbed in.

"An ex-watcher guy from England working with a 250-year-old-vampire with a soul in a quest to do God-only-knows-what?" Neela said, looking at Wesley. "I mean, what does your family think?"

"Not a lot. Suffice it to say my father wasn't overly thrilled when I was fired as a Watcher and started working for Angel. What about yours?" he asked, glancing at Neela. With her jacket that was too big for her and battered army boots, he couldn't quite see her in a happy-family picture.

"I'm kind of the black sheep of the family. I've never got on with the guys at home but I think my dad would come and drag me back there again if he knew I was fighting alongside a vampire. I got the impression no one actually told him where I am. Not that he would ever ask where I was."

Wesley could almost see _or care where I was_ running around Neela's head. It seemed he wasn't the only child to be constantly ignored by daddy dearest. Wesley tactfully moved the conversation to safer ground, asking for directions and talking about the twins. Neela perked up again when he mentioned his plan to start looking for prophecies regarding the children.

"My people sent me a load of texts and prophecies they thought might be related to the kids," Neela said. "Just thinking about them gives me a headache. You want them, they're yours."

Wesley could hardly contain his excitement, making Neela laugh. When they reached her apartment, Wesley parked the car and came up with her. Although Wesley had never seen it, from what he had heard, this was what he imagined Cordelia's first apartment as. It was small and dingy, with cracks in the wall and an equally dingy mattress on the floor. Most of the space was taken up with a punching bag Neela had fixed to the ceiling. There were a few boxes filled with a mixture of clothes, weapons and old books. As Neela started searching through them, Wesley noticed the few photographs she had pinned to the wall. He spotted one with a younger Neela and Gunn, surrounded by grinning gang-members, clearly from her first time in LA. There was Neela with a much older man, but Neela's hair was a dark red colour, rather than the black hair she now had and her green eyes were full of laughter. The final picture showed Neela, now with black hair, and a man with brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing the same leather jacket Neela now wore.

"Yeah, that's Liam," Neela said, making Wesley jump. "Here are the prophecies." She handed him a slim folder. "Most haven't been translated from the original. Hope you read Ga-shundi."

"Thank you, Neela," Wesley murmured, his mind already on the texts he now had in his hands. Neela had just cut down on what could have been months of searching. "I should get to work on these immediately."

"Hope you have better luck than our scholars did," Neela said, walking with Wesley to the door. "Um, do me a favour and let me know whatever you find."

"Of course I will, Neela." As Wesley turned to leave, he looked at Neela's eyes. They were a dark grey.


	3. Chapter 3

_Many many thanks to all my reviewers! Enjoy..._

xxx

Angel changed Connor for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Caitlin was already asleep. She was quieter than her brother and Gunn had already commented on what he called her 'scheming' expression. Angel had the feeling that she would always be the brains. Connor, on the other hand, was more energetic, even now, when he couldn't even walk or crawl yet. Angel wasn't looking forward to the terrible twos, that was for sure.

Lorne stuck his head around the door. "Hey, Angel-cakes. How are the little nippers?"

"Connor won't settle."

"Give him here," Lorne took the child and rocked him, singing softly. Angel collapsed in a chair. "Oh, Neela got home all right. She had some old texts or something, gave them to Wesley. I have no idea what he's talking about but he seems pleased."

"Any news on Holtz?"

"None. Man seems to be lying low."

xxx

Justine leant her head on the table, wishing she could turn away from the sight of her bloody hand pinned in place by an ice pick. It couldn't be much longer. It couldn't possibly be any longer, please, God.

Her numb praying was rewarded as she heard the metal grill slide upwards. Soft, measured footsteps came next and then she could see Holtz's face in front of hers.

"Wanted to stick around," she whispered.

"Commitment indeed, Justine," he replied just as softly. "I'm impressed. I trust you will, however, follow orders from now on?"

"The vamps deserved it."

"Do you deserve this?" He wrenched the pick out of her hand.

Justine yanked her bleeding hands towards her, cradling it against her chest. "You're a real son of a bitch, you know that?"

"I need you to do something for me. We need more people to deal with Angelus. You must find them for me."

Justine experimentally flexed her fingers. "How will I know who they are?"

"You'll know them, Justine. Their eyes will look like this feels-" Quick as a flash, he grabbed her hand and squeezed.

She almost bit her tongue off trying not to scream. Justine jerked her hand back and immediately smacked Holtz across the face with it, leaving a bloody mark.

"Got it," she said and walked out of the room.

Holtz watched her go, wiping the blood off his face. Yes, Justine was going to do very well. Now, if he could convince that Neela to join him, his plan might just work. Or, of course, he could use some of the information in his possession to throw all suspicion onto her.

With a smile, he stroked the book that was on the table. It had cost a small fortune, but he was sure it was going to be worth it. Stamped on its cover were two words – _The Hunters. _

Yes, even if Neela didn't want to help him, such a girl could only fight her nature for so long. Soon, she would slip up.

And Holtz would be there when she did.

xxx

A few days ago, Lilah had spent hours on her knees, searching through file after file in the Records Room of Wolfram and Hart and come up with precisely diddily-squat about Holtz. Then she finds out that that wretched bitch at the desk knew everything in every bloody folder. At least she had managed to get enough information to get Linwood off her back.

But now they seemed to be a new player on Angel's side. A girl, good at fighting and apparently with every intention of protecting the children. The children that Wolfram and Hart would be more than happy to… acquire. They needed to know more about her. Knowledge was power and Wolfram and Hart liked power. The woman in Records gave Lilah all the information they had on the girl, but there wasn't much of it. And now she had to present her findings to Linwood.

"Her birth name is Erin O'Neil, but she appears to have gone by many others, including, Erin Greene, Ann Reilly and Neela Nykomi. She was born about twenty five years ago to Mary and Patrick O'Neil."

"What is she?" Linwood demanded, starting to lose patience. Not that he had ever had any patience for Lilah.

"A standard Hunter, as far as we can tell. There's some confusion as to whether she was meant to be it, but we know the procedure was successful. There are accounts of Jo'Nekra's acts from all over America and Europe."

"A Hunter? If we could convince her to join us, she would be a valuable ally," Linwood said. "It would also give us a stronger connection to the Clan, correct?"

"Undoubtedly, but Neela wasn't raised by the Clan. She developed too much of her own personality before the merging, which seems to have had a strange effect on Jo'Nekra. Neela dislikes us, and we all know Jo'Nekra's dislike of formality," Lilah said. "Probability of them accepting any offer from us is minimal."

"What if we get rid of her? Will we get any trouble from the Clan?" Gavin asked.

Lilah bit back her annoyance at Gavin even being in the same dimension as her, let alone in the same meeting. "They'll be annoyed at losing a Hunter, but we know of at least two more active Hunters in existence at the moment. If she becomes problematic, I think we could get away with it."

"So shall I order a Special Ops team?" Gavin asked Linwood.

Linwood shook his head. "I think we should tread carefully on this one. Leave her alone until we have more information or it becomes… necessary to remove her."

xxx

Justine wandered through the streets. When she had lost her sister, so many people had said she was crazy to still be talking about 'vampires' that she almost started to believe them. So many people were lost to vampires every day and so few of their friends or relatives ever realised.

Holtz was insane if he thought she could round up an army of vampire hunters. No one here looked like her head had felt when he had crushed it. They all looked so... normal.

But then she started to notice the ones in the shadows. They stayed just out of the light, watching it almost hungrily. Although, maybe they were just weirdos. Justine kept walking, but noticed the solitary vampire stalking the crowd. It wasn't until one of the watchers followed the vampire that Justine's interest was caught.

This might not be so hard after all.

xxx

Neela was not generally a coffee person, but Doyle had come with another cryptic warning that night and she felt she had to go deal with it, so her night had ended up seriously lacking in sleep. Therefore, coffee was a necessity. As she poured the bitter liquid down her throat, Neela fondly remembered the days when she could go for days on just a few hours of sleep. Hopefully, the caffeine would keep her going until that night.

On her way to the Hyperion, Neela paid Mark a visit, only to learn that there was nothing new going on that he had heard about, but Emil, the weapons' dealer, had left a message for Neela that her order was in.

Neela had met Emil, along with Mark and Gunn, the first time she came to LA. In a few months, they had made a lasting friendship, despite barely speaking for months at a time. She ordered almost all of her weapons from him and he was the only man who could call her 'kid' without her getting violent.

He was also one of the best at custom work. Custom work like silver bullets blessed by a priest and coated in garlic. Just because she was working with a vampire didn't mean Neela was going to get complacent. She examined one of the bullets, loaded it into her gun and fired a practise shot through a target.

"Perfect, Emil," she said appreciatively. "How many you made?"

"Half a dozen clips here, another half dozen on their way," Emil said. "I gotta say, I was surprised by the specifications. Trying to kill a vamp with bullets? Not the way to go."

"They're not for killing vamps. Well, they could be, but mostly I'm thinking about Kath'hurks," Neela said. "How much do I owe you?"

"This is tricky work, kid. $400."

Neela didn't argue; she knew good work when she handled it and she had know Emil long enough that he didn't normally try to cheat her. Fortunately, she still had money from a bounty two days earlier and settled the debt instantly. Thanking Emil once more, she stowed the bullets in her bag and left. Maybe Angel or Gunn had some more news on Holtz but she doubted it.

As she walked towards the Hyperion, her phone rang. Flipping it open, she saw that the call came from her flat. How on earth could Doyle use the phone? The guy was meant to be a ghost!

"Neela here," she said down the phone. As she listened to the frantic ghost, her eyes widened and she broke into a run, heading straight for the hotel.

xxx

Cordelia washed her hands and splashed water on her face, alone in the bathroom. Her face was pale and drawn, without the smile that she was famous for. She pulled a pill bottle out of her pocket. Take one every four hours, the label read. Cordelia checked her watch and then downed a pill.

She walked out of the bathroom to be greeted with a slightly off key rendition of "Happy Birthday". The gang was standing around Wesley and Gunn, who held a large cake between them. It showed Wonder-woman holding a crossbow and stake. 'Happy Birthday Cordelia' was written underneath. Cordelia smiled at them all as they reached their shaky conclusion. In Fred's arms, Caitlin gurgled her approval.

"Guys, you shouldn't have," she said, learning forward to blow out the candles. Wesley passed the cake fully to Gunn.

"Well then, I suppose you wouldn't want presents-" he said.

"Oh, wanting presents!" Cordelia cut in. Wesley grinned at her and went to fetch the presents they had stashed in the office. Angel passed her Connor.

"I got you a little something," he said, holding a small parcel in his hands. The others came back with their gifts, all wrapped in brightly coloured paper.

"Oh, what a cruel dilemma," said Cordelia. "Presents or cute little baby?" She made baby noises to Connor, then her expression changed. "Take the baby," she told Angel.

"You're choosing gifts over my child?" Angel asked, pretending to be offended.

"Take the baby!" Cordelia yelled. Realising, Angel grabbed Connor as the vision hit Cordelia. Neela suddenly burst through the doors.

"Cordelia, stop!" she yelled.

"Ok, it's a girl. She's in a house on-" Cordelia started. The gang looked on, horrified, as Cordelia's body was flung straight into the weapon's cabinet, shattering the doors.

Angel passed Connor to Fred and ran over to Cordelia. "Cordy? Cordy, wake up," he said. No response. He checked her neck.

"Angel, is she-"

"No! There's a pulse. She's alive. Get her onto the sofa."

Lorne came hurrying down the stairs. "What happened?"

"We don't know. She had a vision, but then this happened. She won't wake up," Angel told him.

"Should we take her to a hospital?" Fred asked. Lorne shook his head.

"No good, kids. This is mystical, not magical. I'm picking up some seriously weird vibes in here."

Fred spotted a bottle lying next to the broken weapons' cabinet and picked it up.

"Seltax?" she read. "Wesley, what's seltax?"

"It's a powerful migraine medication," Wesley said, turning to face her. Fred passed him the bottle. "This isn't good."

Angel spotted Neela, his mind catching up with his ears. He grabbed her, slammed her up against the wall.

"Will you stop doing that?" Neela yelled, trying to push him off.

"You knew this was going to happen," he said. "How? What is this?"

"Got another message. I don't know what's happened to Cordelia."

"Not good enough," Angel said, pushing her into the office.

"Angel, if Cordy was using Seltax, this could be much more serious than we know," Wesley said. Nobody was going to mention Angel's reaction to Neela.

Angel nodded. "Fred, Gunn go to her house. We need to know exactly what was going on with her. Lorne, ask around, try to find out what could cause this sort of thing."

"I'll go to the hospital, ask to see her medical records," Wesley said and the gang scattered. Angel took a deep breath and walked into the office. Neela was standing by the far wall, examining a large bruise on her ribs.

"Now, I've played nicely with you so far, let you have your secrets and mysterious past," Angel said, being careful to stay in between Neela and the door. "But you're going to tell me everything you know about what just happened to Cordy now. Understood?"

"Fine. But I don't know anything. I just got a message that badness was heading her way fast," Neela said.

"Message from who? You get visions or something?"

"God, no. I've got myself a messenger. A ghost. He hangs around in my apartment and somehow managed to call me. I mean, how can a ghost use the phone?" she said thoughtfully.

Angel glared at her. "Who?"

"He doesn't want you to know." Doyle had been very insistent about that and Neela hadn't asked why.

"_Who?_" Angel shouted, stepping closer. Part of him was glad to see Neela shrink back against the wall.

"He said his name was Doyle." It came out as a whisper, but Neela might as well have been screaming. All the anger shot out of Angel.

"That's impossible. Doyle died two years ago," Angel said, not sure if he was talking to himself or Neela.

"I did mention he's a ghost, didn't I? They do kinda tend to be dead," Neela muttered. "Look, I'll help with Cordelia anyway I can. But I don't know any more than you."

Angel ignored her. "Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.

"What was I supposed to say? 'Angel, your dead friend is crashing in my apartment, giving me orders from the Powers. How are the twins?' You would never have believed me and Doyle didn't want you and Cordelia to know."

"Why?"

"Don't know and really don't care. His business, not mine. Are we done here?"

"Yeah."

"I'll go talk to my sources about Cordelia. See if I can dig up any info."

"Thanks."

"Angel, you should know that humans can't withstand the visions. There might not be anything we can do for her," Neela said.

"Your people have information, don't they?"

"Doubt they'll tell me anything. I'm not exactly their favourite person."

"But you'll try?"

"Always do."

xxx

Neela didn't bother to call the Clan. They needn't know she was helping Angel and they wouldn't tell her anything even if she did call, so why waste the credit?

When she came back from her 'conversation' with the talking clock, Gunn was already back.

"Did you find anything at Cordy's place?" Neela asked.

"With a little help from Phantom Dennis," he said, walking back in with her. "And Wes got bad news from the hospital. The visions seem to be cooking her brain. And Lorne says we can't do anything medically. Wes is looking into some mojo, but he's drawing blanks."

"Mojo?" Neela asked. "Might be able to help with that. Just got to make one trans-Atlantic telephone call."

xxx

Angel was sitting with Cordelia, in his room. The others had come to him when they found out whatever they could, all but Neela. Even the twins were being quiet, for once.

"Cordy?" he said. "Can you hear me?" He took hold of her hand. "I just think I ought to tell you that…" He paused. "You really piss me off, you know that? MRIs, CAT scans? It's been going on for over a year? Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped you! Why wouldn't you let me in? I thought you trusted me."

Neela coughed tactfully, standing in the doorway. Her conversation with Liam had gone a lot better than she had dared to hope. Angel looked up at her.

"How is she?" she asked.

"The same. Lorne came to see her. Said she wasn't in there," he said. "What did your people say?"

"Won't help us. But I know a guy, part of a coven in Ireland. He sent me a spell to let you talk to the Powers, or the Conduit, or something. All got a little complicated. The point is, I do this spell and you might get a few answers."

"What are the risks?" Angel asked.

"Well, I allow the Powers to use my body as Conduit to talk to you. Risks are a given, but there aren't really many details," Neela said.

"And you're ok with this?"

"You said you wanted options. This is the only one we have."

xxx

Angel and Neela drove in silence to an area on the outskirts of town. Neela had a book in her lap and Angel could tell she was agitated. He suddenly wondered why she was doing this for a woman she barely knew.

"You ok?" he asked finally, not really sure if he expected an answer.

"Brilliant," Neela said. "We're here."

Angel stopped the car and they both got out. Neela checked something in the book and pointed towards the mouth of a cave. They walked in and Neela pulled out a torch, flicking it on.

"Stand back," she told him, kneeling down in the sand that covered the cave floor. She drew a circle around herself, being careful to join it up perfectly. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Neela, hang on. What's going to happen?" Angel asked quickly. Neela opened her eyes.

"I do the spell. If it works, I become the Conduit and the Powers, or something similar to them, will take over my body and you can talk to them, but make it quick. They're not meant to be particularly patient and I don't know how long the spell will last," Neela told him.

"Sounds dangerous. You need to have serious resistance for a spell like this," Angel said, worried.

"I know a thing or two about resistance, ok? It'll work."

"And if it doesn't?"

"I redecorate the cave walls with my brains," Neela said and Angel couldn't tell if she was joking or not. Neela didn't give him a chance to comment, but pulled off the gloves she wore, showing the tattoos on her left hand. She started chanting in a language that Angel guessed to be Egyptian.

Her breathing became erratic and her eyes flew open as she screamed. Light burst out of her hands and eyes, blinding Angel. When he could see again, Neela was standing in the circle with flames racing along its edge. Her eyes had turned to milky opaque spheres, with no emotion or anyone behind them.

_It is come. The Champion is come. But what does it want? Answers not to be had. Death is certain for the Conduit. Only death awaits._

"Neela?" Angel asked. The voice, if it could be called a voice, hadn't come from Neela's body.

_The Conduit cannot hear you. The Champion wishes to speak to us._

"Yes, it does. I want answers," Angel said.

_It speaks unknowing. Send it away._

"I'm not going anywhere until my message gets back to the Powers that Be." Neela had said he had to plead. "My friend, Cordelia, has visions given by the Powers. They're killing her. I want the Powers to take them back. Let her go. She's suffered enough."

_Suffering. Does it know suffering? _

Neela lifted one hand and Angel was flung into the wall of the cave. He fell to the ground.

_Yes it does. As does the Conduit. The Powers owe nothing. Send it away. Send it away._

Angel scrambled to his feet. "I'm not finished!"

_Its pleas are pointless. Her path is chosen. We will not interfere. _

"The visions are too much. She's not strong enough to handle them."

_It is obstinate. It speaks and does not listen._

"No, you're not listening! Cordelia isn't a champion. She's a rich girl from Sunnydale who likes to play super hero. She doesn't have what it takes to do this! Don't the Powers get that? Listen to me, dammit! She's weak." Angel swallowed, fighting to get a grip. "You're killing her. She's unconscious and she's alone. Who knows if she's in pain?"

_It is angry. It is afraid. _

"I'm more afraid of her dying than she is."

_How can a creature such as it care in this way?_

"Will you help me or not?"

_We cannot. This decision has already been made by another. Send it away. Send it away._

The ring of fire exploded, sending Neela flying back into the wall off the cave. Angel hurried forward as she rolled over onto her back and spat out a mouthful of blood. He grabbed her shoulder, helping her to sit up.

"Neela, answer me!"

"Whoa," she muttered. "That was… weird."

"You ok?"

"You already asked me that." Neela got to her feet, one hand on the wall for support. "Did you find anything?"

"They wouldn't help. We're on our own. You sure you're ok?" Angel asked again. Neela looked decidedly shaky. She pulled away from him.

"I'm fine," she said, picking up the book from the floor and walking out of the cave.

xxx

"So what else can we do?" Neela asked Gunn, sitting in the office. She dropped the spell book on the table. "There must be something, right?"

Gunn shrugged. "Wes is doing research and Lorne's asking around, but it sure as hell don't look good."

Angel was still sitting by Cordelia. He had been since he and Neela had got back from attempting the spell. Cordelia's hand was in his, and he didn't look like he was going to be letting go anytime soon.

Angel jumped as Cordelia starting thrashing around and screaming. Neela and Gunn burst into the room as Cordelia woke up. Angel stared at her, and then pulled her into his arms.

"I thought I lost you," he whispered. Cordelia buried her face in his shoulder. Fred, Lorne and Wesley ran into the room.

"No horns," Cordelia whispered, rubbing her temples. She got up and stretched. "Feels so good to be solid again."

"Cordy? What's the last thing you remember?" Wesley asked.

"Oh, you mean my vision? Don't worry, that's been taken care of. There was this actress, and a one-armed guy, but right now we need to solve my vision," Cordelia said. Neela and Gunn stared at her in amazement.

"The one that was taken care of?" Lorne asked. "Ok, now I'm confused."

"No, the one I'm having now. There's a man in a park, south side of town. There's a red demon with four, no make it five horns," Cordelia said.

"Um, Cordy?" Angel said, staring at the now-levitating Cordelia.

xxx

With the red demon thoroughly killed, Cordelia filled the others in on her out-of-body experience, crazy Angel and one-armed Wesley. Neela pleaded exhaustion and left when Cordelia moved onto her successful actress lifestyle complete with descriptions of every single outfit.

As Wesley was tidying away all of his research, he found one book he didn't recognise. He tipped a pile of papers off the chair and sat down, flipping the book open. It looked like some form of archaic Egyptian. As he turned the pages, a piece of paper fell out and Wesley stooped to grab it before it hit the floor.

The note read

_Liam Reilly_

_Dublin_

_London_

_Devon_

And underneath that, written later in a different pen:

_Pg 126, Ptepic's Codex_

Hadn't Neela mentioned a Liam earlier? Mind racing, he quickly turned to page one hundred and twenty six.

"The Conduit?" he whispered to himself. "Surely Neela wouldn't…" He grabbed another book and started cross referencing. This wasn't good.

Wesley jumped as Angel walked in, rocking Connor. Getting Connor to go to sleep was becoming a daily challenge, one that everyone was having difficulty meeting.

"Angel, what was the spell that Neela performed?" Wesley asked.

"I'm not sure. Something about a Conduit and the Powers," Angel said. "Why?"

Wesley gestured to the book. "That spell is one of the most dangerous ever recorded. Even for an advanced, experienced mage. And for an amateur like Neela, it could have killed her. Really it should have killed her." He could tell from Angel's expression that Neela hadn't told him the risks.

"Would she have known that?" Angel asked.

Wesley passed him the note. "Liam Reilly is the best Irish Mage alive today. If Neela spoke to him, she definitely knew what she was doing and the consequences."

"So what do we do?"

"I'm going to call Reilly, ask him about Neela. I don't know why she'd take that kind of chance, but if she's going to be fighting with us-"

"-we need to know," Angel finished. "Tell me when you've spoken to Reilly."

xxx

"Liam Reilly," said the man who picked up the phone.

"Mr Reilly, I'm Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and-"

"Yeah, Neela mentioned you. How did the spell go?"

"Spell? You mean becoming the Conduit?"

"Of course I do. She said you needed it to help a friend or something. Did something go wrong?"

"No, the spell worked perfectly. But I wasn't the one who performed it, Mr Reilly,"

"Of course you weren't."

"What do you mean?"

"Wyndam-Pryce, did you say? Old Watcher family, if I'm not mistaken."

"The Council and I... had a disagreement."

"I heard. If it makes you feel any better, I was against your dismissal. Not that I could do much. Anyway, I'm assuming that everyone over there is ok, so why are you calling me?"

"Neela performed a very dangerous spell without telling us the risks-"

"Her choice. You want to get along with her, don't be too protective. It won't help."

Liam hung up. Wesley put the phone down and looked up. Angel was leaning against the wall, his enhanced hearing having allowed him to hear both sides of the conversation.

"So what do we do?" Wesley asked.

"I'll go talk to her," Angel said, walking out of the office and grabbing his coat.


	4. Chapter 4

Neela was half-asleep, still in her jeans and t-shirt, when someone knocked on her door. Groaning to herself, she pulled herself up and went to open it.

"Angel? What the hell are you doing here? Are the twins all right?"

"Yeah, they're fine," Angel said. There was an awkward pause before: "Can I come in?"

"Sure." Neela stepped back to let him in and shut the door behind him. She led him into the main room part of her apartment and gestured to an empty chair. Angel stayed standing.

"Why didn't you tell me how dangerous that spell was?" he asked finally.

Neela looked at him like he was simple. "If I had, you would have refused to go through with it."

"You could have been killed!" Angel said, the anger coming out.

"Your point being? Risk is part of my job."

"But why take such an unnecessary risk for someone you barely know?"

"Unnecessary? We didn't know that spell wouldn't help. Cordelia was in serious trouble and I was trying to help you."

"By getting yourself killed?"

"According to some, that's the most useful thing I could ever do. You have no idea why I'm the why I am so don't you even think about trying to control me. I'm still alive; Cordelia is up and… floating, apparently, so we didn't do so badly."

"What about next time? Neela, you have to think about your actions or someone is going to die and it might not be you."

"I know. Believe me when I say I've been there a lot. But it's none of your business, understand?"

"It is if you want to work with me," Angel said without thinking.

Neela glared at him and stood up. The good humour she normally had in her eyes had vanished. "You think because I'm going to help your kids, we're friends? That I'm going to open up and tell you all my problems? I am not one of your helpless clients and I do not need any help. Especially not from a self-centred vampire."

"Neela-"

"Get. Out." When Angel still didn't move, Neela sighed. "Look, how can I put this? Get out or I throw you out."

Angel left then, shutting the door behind him. Neela sat down on the mattress as Doyle materialised in front of her.

"He's got a point, you know," he said. Neela stared at the floor.

"Doyle, unless someone is about to die, I really don't care," she said, pulling a slim leather case out from under the bed. In it there were several small bottles and some hypodermics.

"Neela, you keep this up, you're going to wind up as dead as me," Doyle said.

"About bloody time," Neela said, filling the hypodermic with clear liquid from one of the bottles.

"This is serious!"

"So am I. Now, drop the subject or I exorcise this dump," Neela threatened.

"I don't want you to get hurt. Nor does Angel," Doyle pressed.

"Great. Two people want me alive and both of them are dead. I can name more than two dozen _living_ people who want me dead without me having to think about it. And that's just the humans." She rolled up her sleeve and stabbed herself with the needle.

"What's that?"

"Ask your precious Powers," Neela said, grabbing her keys. Doyle waited for her to slam the door before dematerialising.

xxx

The gang was waiting for Angel when he got back. Cordy and Fred had a twin each; Wesley was still researching some demon or other. Gunn was sitting by the weapons' cabinet, polishing his trademark hubcap axe, and Lorne had a sea-breeze in his green hands. They all looked up as he came through the door.

"I take it your conversation with Neela didn't go well," Wesley said, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"She didn't want to talk." Angel sat down, rubbing the back of his neck. "I asked her about the spell and she got really defensive."

"That's my Nee," Gunn said. "She say anything in particular?"

"Oh, that she wasn't helpless and didn't want any help," Angel replied. "Am I self-centred?"

"Yes," said Cordelia, at the same moment that Fred said "No,"

Gunn snickered, earning him a glare from Lorne.

"So what do we do?" Fred asked.

"I'm not sure we can do anything," Wesley said. "If she doesn't want us to."

"Y'all so sure she needs our help?" Gunn asked. "I mean, Nee knows how to take care of herself."

"Charles, Wesley says that spell was really dangerous. I don't think she should be taking those risks, especially if she meant to be protecting Angel's children," Fred pointed out.

"Well, I for one am grateful for that spell, even if it didn't work," Cordelia said. "She was trying to do the right thing, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course she was," Angel hastened to reassure her. "But it is sort of worrying."

"Which leads us back to what can we do for the girl," Lorne said.

"Or who the girl is," Angel said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Wesley asked, frowning.

"We still don't actually know anything about her, except for what she's told us," the vampire replied. "Maybe it's time we found out." He looked deliberately at Gunn as he spoke. "Start a file on her. Find out anything you can."

xxx

Two days later, no one at Angel Investigations had seen Neela again. Angel had gone back to Thanatos Misthos and been thrown out. Gunn had left her a load of messages and got a single response - telling him to leave her alone until they actually needed her to fight something.

But Gunn had started to worry about Neela and wasn't about to leave her alone. Even though they had only spent a few months together, she was part of his gang and he looked after his crew. It took a few hours of searching and a lot of luck, but he managed to be visiting his old gang friends at the same time as Neela. This had absolutely nothing to do with a phone call he had received from Rondell earlier.

When Neela saw Gunn chatting to the other boys, she really wanted to turn around and leave. But she was too late and Gunn had already spotted her. Neela forced a smile and greeted him, then quickly started swapping stories with the gang of her recent exploits. Gunn joined in and she soon found herself laughing with the gang at his descriptions of Wesley trying to deal with the babies.

As it got darker, the gang started preparing for the possible vampire attacks and Neela left to do her own hunting. Gunn tagged along wordlessly, just as he had all those years ago when they had fought together almost every night.

"What do you want, Gunn?" Neela asked eventually, tired of the silence.

"I wanna know what the hell you were up to with that mojo," he said, completely matter of fact. Neela smiled. This was the Gunn she had known. Angel and Doyle, with their assumption she had just ignored the risks, had pissed her off.

"I was trying to do the right thing," she said finally.

"So you're not a crazy thrill-seeker?"

That made her laugh. "Don't think so."

"Angel was just tryin' to look out for you. He might be a vamp but he's got the mission."

"God, I never thought I'd hear you say that. Things were so much simpler the last time I was down here," Neela said.

"Your family still givin' you grief?" Gunn asked.

"Not really. Don't have much to do with them anymore," Neela lied, wishing she'd never told him the simplified version of her history the last time she was here. Why the hell did he still remember it? "And speaking of families, you really like Fred, don't you?"

Gunn went bright red and Neela started laughing again. "Is it that obvious?"

"Hell, yeah. You told her?"

"Nah."

"Why not? She obviously has the hots for you, Charlie boy."

"Really? And don't call me Charlie boy." Gunn's enthusiasm was cuteness in the extreme. Neela kept him on the topic of Fred and off the topic of her family until they parted ways.

Her apartment was silent when she got back – Doyle had been giving her space since she had argued with him and Angel and she was grateful. Or maybe she had just been too drunk last night to notice him. She locked the door behind her and hit the answering machine.

"You have two new messages," said the mechanical voice. "Hi, it's Liam. We need to talk about Jo'Nekra. There might be something wrong with that serum I gave you, so give me a call. I miss you." Beep. "Angel here. We need your help with a demon cult. Strength in numbers seems like the best way to deal with it. Come by the office tomorrow morning so we can check it out."

Neela pulled off her boots and took off her jacket before picking up the phone. She couldn't remember the time difference, but Liam was always up at all hours with some spell or experiment. She took a deep breathe before dialling the number. He picked it up almost immediately.

"Liam Reilly."

"It's me."

"About time. How's the serum working?"

"Pretty good. I had to take an extra dose last night."

"Why?"

"Got a little worked up."

Liam sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have let you go back to those people."

"Those people' are my family, more or less. And it wasn't them who got me upset."

"They're still utter pillocks," Liam snapped. He had never actually met the Clan but he had heard more than enough to make his own opinion on Neela relatives. "I've got to go, the Council suddenly want to admit I exist again, but call again soon, ok? And tell me immediately if there are any... incidences."

"There won't be. Watch your back," Neela said and ended the call. She and Liam had never actually said goodbye to each other. It had always seemed like tempting fate too much. And now she just had to survive spending time with Angel tomorrow. Neela groaned and collapsed on the mattress. That was not going to be so easy,

She was just falling asleep when the phone rang. Muttering to herself about people who called at god-forsaken hours like this, Neela got up again and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said. Neela automatically straightened up when she heard the voice at the other end. "Elder, I am obeying instructions, for the moment. The spell? It was necessary to gain the vampire's trust. He is a stubborn one. No, I will complete the mission, although I dislike this need for subtlety. It is not the Jo'Nekra way. I understand, Elder. I will contact you if there are any more developments."

Neela carefully put the phone down, let her knees give way until she was sitting on the floor and leant her head against the wall. They were still watching her. And she was running out of time.

xxx

As her visions were no longer liquidising her brain, Cordelia was actually in quite a good mood when Neela arrived at the Hyperion. Neela leant on the reception desk and watched as Wesley held up book after book to identify Cordy's latest demon. She was strongly put in mind of a certain type of woman trying to find the right curtains for a room no one really uses. Wesley was getting more and more flustered and Neela eventually took pity on him and came to help.

"Here's one," Neela said, striking pure gold after about ten minutes. "Sorialus the Ravager." She passed Cordy the book. "Look familiar?"

"Isn't she the one with six breasts?" Wesley asked absentmindedly.

Neela tried not to start laughing. "He went to a single sex school, didn't he?" she asked Cordelia. Wesley looked up, confused.

"Definitely," Cordy told Neela. "And, yeah, she's the one from my vision."

"Coming to destroy the humans that killed her mate," Neela read. "And they say no one can maintain a relationship these days."

"But not for another month or so. I'll file her under 'pending.'" Cordy took the book to Wesley.

"So, are we taking on the demon cult today or not?" Neela asked. She really needed to fight something. "What is this cult, anyway?"

"Cult of M'nada," Wesley said. "Trying to resurrect their founder."

"Not a good thing," Cordelia clarified for Neela. "We're just waiting for Gunn and Angel to get back before we go." She walked off to the filing cabinets.

"Are you ok?" Wesley asked Neela, taking off his glasses. "You seem a bit agitated."

Neela smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm good. Why'd you call Liam?"

"I was worried about you," Wesley said shrugging.

Neela looked at him, surprised, but didn't have time to reply before Gunn, Fred and Angel came through the door.

"We found them," Gunn told the others as Angel opened the weapons cabinet and started handing out weapons to the gang. "In a gym on 20th."

"Wes, you found a way to kill these guys?" Angel asked, passing the Englishman a sword. Wesley took it, testing the weight.

"Standard slice and dice will do for this sort of demon," Wesley said.

Neela grinned. Now they were playing her tune.

xxx

The cult had indeed been where Angel and Gunn said they were, but most of them hadn't stayed to fight when the gang burst in. Those cult members dived into the sewers and the gang followed, determined to finish them all off. At some point Gunn had suggested splitting up to find the last of the cult, which Neela accepted as a sensible idea. Cordelia and Wesley went on way, Gunn and Fred another and that left Angel and Neela. Bloody brilliant. Neela let Angel take point. He was the better tracker and she couldn't smell much of anything when surrounded by the stench of the LA sewers. The cult members had to be found and _Neela had to spend time with a vampire she had thrown out of her house!_

She really wasn't going to forgive Gunn for this anytime soon. Or anytime, actually. Ever. Well, it might not be so bad so long as Angel didn't –

"Neela?" he asked, suddenly turning around to face her.

- say anything.

"What?" she said. "You want to chew me out over something else now?"

"I'm sorry."

"You seem to be saying that to me a lot recently, and you really shouldn't bother. I get why you acted like that. It pisses me off righteously, but I get it."

Angel sighed with relief. He had heard a lot from Gunn about Neela's hot temper. "So we're ok?"

"Hm, no."

Two of the last remaining cult members jumped up from their hiding place and attacked. The first one attempted quite a spectacular flying kick that completely failed to work. _Cults really should consider getting rid of the ankle length robes_, Neela thought. She kicked one in the chest and spun round to hit him forward into the wall as Angel punched the other one. A sharp crack came from the creature's neck breaking. Angel pulled the other one towards him and rammed its head into the wall.

"Ok, that's just showing off," said Neela.

"What do you mean, no?" Angel asked.

"No we are not ok," Neela said. "It's fairly easy to understand, you know."

"Why not?"

"You are a vampire. I am physically incapable of being 'ok' with you. But I was willing to work with you and you… God, there's not even a word for what you did!"

"I said I'm sorry, Neela. What more do you want?"

"'Sorry' doesn't mean anything. You stalk me, badger my friend, sneak around behind my back and because you're sorry, it's all ok?" Neela's voice had got steadily louder until she was shouting.

"What the hell is your problem?" Angel yelled back.

"I'm looking at it!" Neela shoved past Angel. "I was a bloody fool to think you were different from any other bloodsucker."

Angel watched as she jogged off down the sewer and turned the corner. That could definitely have gone better.

xxx

Neela took out her anger on a vamp nest downtown. Rondell had mentioned it last night and she wanted to deal with it before his gang got too enthusiastic.

A bucket of holy water had taken out three of the vamps before they had even woken up and Neela smashed two of the blacked-out windows, flooding the room with sunlight. She grabbed a pipe over head and swung her legs forward to hit a vamp in the face. He went down and Neela dropped to the floor. She picked up the vamp and slammed him into the wall, then threw him into a patch of sunlight. Another vamp seized her from behind. Neela ran her legs up the wall and flipped over the vamp. As she landed on the ground behind it, she staked the vamp. The last vamp kicked her legs out from under her. Neela hit the ground and rolled automatically, the vampire's stiletto heel just missing her face. The vampire growled in annoyance and grabbed Neela's plait, pulling her up and knocking her back down. Neela flipped back onto her feet and punched the vamp twice in the face.

"Bitch!" yelled the vamp. "You broke my nose!"

Neela sighed. "Sorry. I meant to do _this_." She hooked her foot around the empty bucket and flicked it up into the vampire's face. She screamed as a few drops of holy water touched her face and Neela staked her.

Neela dropped the stake and wiped the dust off her clothes. As the battle adrenaline left her, her shoulders drooped and she sat down. Maybe the Clan was right – no matter how many she staked, there would always be hundred more killing for pleasure and food. The Clan had never approved of her one-woman campaign against the undead. They had their own plans in that area, plans that didn't involve dozens of dust piles, but they had accepted it as one of Jo'Nekra's many quirks. Maybe it was time to back out, go back to merely surviving and leave the good fight to people (or demons) who were actually fit to fight it. She couldn't spend any more time working with Angel, not if she wanted to complete her real goal.

Neela sat still for a long while, thinking carefully. But no matter what way she looked at the problem, she could only see one solution. At least this way, maybe no one would get hurt. She had to do it. Neela pulled out her phone and dialled in the Angel Investigations number. It was Wesley who picked up.

"Angel Investigations," he said.

"Hey, Wes," she said.

"Neela? Are you ok?" The guy really did sound worried, Neela realised.

"Um, look, something's come up. I'm not going to be able to help you guys out for a while. I'll call if I hear anything about the twins. I'm really sorry, Wes," Neela gabbled and hung up before Wesley could answer. Wesley called back almost immediately, but Neela just rejected the call. Standing up, she stuffed her hands in her pockets and left the vamp's nest. She just had to pray she could explain this to the Clan. She might get away with it. Just. If she was really lucky.

xxx

Wesley replaced the receiver, really confused. Neela had just quit, or stopped helping them or something and now she wouldn't answer the phone. What had Angel said to her?

Angel was in the foyer, with the twins in their bassinet in front of him. Gunn was cleaning weapons, his fallback activity, and Fred was making another weird weapon/device. The odds on it being a toaster were three to one, at the moment. Cordy was reading some fashion magazine and just generally being Cordy. Gunn was the only one that looked up when Wesley came in.

"What's up, English?" he asked, polishing his homemade axe. "We got a case?"

"That was Neela," Wesley said. "She's not coming back."

Angel's head jerked up. "What?"

"What the hell?" said Gunn at the same moment. Fred and Cordy exchanged looks. Gunn looked at Angel. "What did you say to her?"

"I… I tried to apologise," said Angel."

"What is her problem?" Cordy asked. "She's been acting weird ever since she got here."

"Apparently, I'm her problem," Angel said, sounding depressed. Gunn put the axe back in the weapons' cabinet and walked to the door. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna talk to her," Gunn said. "This is making less and less sense."

xxx

Neela kicked the door shut behind her. It took a few minutes of intensive searching to find the kettle, and all the while Neela was deliberately ignoring the whisky bottle on the table. As she filled the kettle and plugged it in, Doyle popped into existence next to her.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"Tea," muttered Neela.

"Hm. I had you down as a whisky girl," Doyle said conversationally.

"I am, normally. But I have the feeling that if I start on that, I won't stop till the bottom of the bottle." Neela rested her elbows on the table.

Doyle was getting worried. "Why'd you back out of AI?" he asked finally. Subtlety had never been his strong point.

"Not sure." Neela didn't bother to ask how he knew. The guy had a direct link to the Powers and was a ghost.

"It wouldn't have anything to do with the phone call you got late last night?"

"Not sure."

"Want to talk?"

"Would 'no' be an acceptable answer?" Neela asked, a spark of her old attitude coming back. Doyle shook his head. "You know my situation. I'm on a tightrope with no safety net and they're about to shove me off."

Doyle knew who 'they' were. "Just a suggestion, but why don't you tell Angel? He might be able to help."

"I'm not getting anyone else involved. It's too dangerous, for all of us. You must know what the Clan would do to Angel if they had half a chance."

Doyle nodded. "So Angel stays out of it. Check."

"I don't need his help anyway. If I can just keep them off my back, I might be able to make this work. It's worked so far."

Doyle felt his gaze being drawn back to the whiskey bottle. "You mind if I have some of that whisky?"

Neela shook her head without thinking. Doyle waited for the confusion and it came fairly quickly. "Hang on," she said. "Are you a ghost or not? You can appear and disappear, but use the phone and drink my whisky?"

"When I died, my human body was destroyed by magic. Plus the Powers needed me to stick around, so they gave me some extra talents. I can solidify my ghostly form at will for short amounts of time."

"Do you have any idea how?"

"Nope. But I still know I can have a drink." Doyle concentrated and suddenly Neela couldn't see through him any more. Doyle quickly poured the whisky and gulped it down, turning incorporeal again just as he finished. Neela caught the glass that fell through his fingers just before it hit the floor.

"You know, Doyle," Neela started to say, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door. Doyle winked at her before winking out of existence and Neela answered the door.

It was Gunn.

"World in peril?" Neela asked. Gunn shook his head. "Twins in danger? Armageddon approaching at speed? Sure? Then why are you bothering me?"

"I just wanted to check you were all right."

"I'm fine."

"You're a crap liar, Nee," Gunn said. "What's goin' on?"

"I can't work with Angel, and, no, I don't want to talk about it."

"Can't or won't?"

"Pick one. As it is so impossible for me to please everybody, I'm stopping trying. I am fed up of trying to do the right thing and everyone getting on my case. That spell was to help you guys and had anyone even said 'thank you'?" Neela ranted. "And I'm sick of working with a vampire who acts like he's so much better than me."

"What's got into you?" Gunn yelled. "He has a soul!"

"Doesn't mean anything. All those people out there have souls and it doesn't make them good or kind or any of that. God, I have a soul for all the good it's done me. Look, just go, ok? I get why you're working with him but I can't."

"I never thought you'd be so stupid. Angel is a champion."

"This isn't my choice! I'm a soldier. I follow orders and my orders just changed."

"So your family is still around."

"Did you really think they were going to leave me alone? We're stretched pretty thin at the moment."

"'We'? You one of them now?"

"I don't know what the hell I am," Neela said and shut the door in Gunn's face. She ignored his shouting and grabbed the bottle of whisky. Screw it all.

xxx

Gunn sat in the foyer of the hospital, cleaning his axe again. His conversation with Neela kept repeating itself in his head. After she had slammed the door, he had stayed for almost twenty minutes, trying to get her to open it again with no result to speak of.

He was still sitting there when Fred came down to order Chinese for the gang.

"Charles?" she said. "Are you ok?"

"It's not me I'm worried about," he said, still polishing his gleaming axe.

"It didn't go well with Neela, huh?"

"She, uh, she kinda slammed the door in my face."

"You two are pretty close, aren't you?" Fred asked.

Gunn was so distracted by Neela that he didn't hear the depressed note in her voice. "Seven years ago, I would've said yes. But now… I don't know her anymore. I don't even know if we're friends anymore."

"Why would anyone not be friends with you?" Fred said, picking up the phone and dialling the takeaway number from memory.

Gunn watched her, chattering down the phone to Mr Sung, who got most of his money from the employees of Angel Investigations, and managed to smile.

xxx

Mark had had a rough day. It was hard work running Thanatos Misthos at the best of time and most of the bounty hunters were starting to argue about his choice to ban bounties on those twins. Arguing with demons really gave you a headache, even if you were green and scaly.

He was just pouring himself a large blood-brandy when someone kicked the door down. He didn't pay much attention – that door got kicked down so often he had wondered more than once why he kept putting it back up. It was mostly newcomers to the world of bounties, trying to make an impression.

"The bar closed an hour ago, friend," Mark called to the stranger. "As did the bounty office."

The man looked at Mark and the demon instinctively stepped back. This definitely was not a newcomer. He'd never felt so afraid of a man before. And this man wasn't even particularly intimidating – reasonably tall, dressed in dark clothes and slightly familiar to Mark.

"I'm sorry to intrude," the man said. The voice was Irish and cultured and sent shivers up all of Mark's three spines. "I'm looking for my daughter."


	5. Chapter 5

Neela did reach the end of the bottle, resulting in a two-day headache and Doyle being forced to re-corporealise to dump a glass of water in her face. After that, he didn't mention Angel, Gunn or any of the others again, but just kept giving the information she needed to help people. Between Angel Investigations and the Clan, Neela was now refusing to answer the phone.

"Won't they get suspicious?" Doyle had asked.

"They'll just assume Jo'Nekra's being contrary," she told him. "So long as they don't hear different, I'll be ok."

This night she was doing a bounty on the east side of town. A vampire with a taste for high school kids had chowed down on the wrong girl and her family wanted revenge. Pretty simple and they were willing to pay big money. Mark had given her the news and mentioned a weird, intelligent guy asking around after her. Sounded like Wesley was checking up on her, and that didn't annoy Neela as much as it might have.

Neela found the vampire easily enough and spent a few pleasant minutes kicking the crap out of him before staking him. She needed the rent money, so a trek across town to Thanatos Misthos was in order to claim the bounty money. As she left the alleyway, Neela glanced around. There was no one there, but she could have sworn someone was watching her.

She was maybe half way to Thanatos Misthos when the inevitable happened and she ran into Wesley. Quite literally ran into him as he was leaving some old bookstore. Books and papers flew everywhere.

"Wesley," she said. "God, I'm sorry." She knelt down to gather up the books.

"It's ok," he said, picking up some of the folders. "I didn't expect to see you again."

"Yeah." Neela looked at Wesley, wishing she wasn't here. She flexed her hands anxiously, her leather fingerless gloves stretching to allow the movement. "So, uh, how's the rest of the gang?" The question was lameness personified, but there you go.

"They're fine. Gunn's pretty ticked off; Angel's really confused, but otherwise good."

"And you?"

"I'd have to go with confused as well." He looked at her and Neela couldn't meet his gaze. She looked at her hands and Wesley followed her eyes, seeing the tattoos that covered the fingers one her left hand, circling all of the digits.

"Wesley, can we not do this, please?" Neela said, passing him the last of the books and standing up. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

The pair started walking as they talked, Wesley still with his arms full of books.

"What exactly happened, Neela?" Wesley asked. Neela paused before answering. She liked Wesley, but there was no point in telling him the truth.

"Wes, the guys I work for aren't exactly the nicest around. And they don't like guys like you and Angel. With me working for Angel, I'm taking risks. I just decided those risks weren't worth it anymore."

Wesley put a hand on her arm. "What would happen if they thought you were too big a risk?"

"I don't really know. Odds are it wouldn't be pleasant. No one..." Neela trailed off, staring into the crowd. Surely she hadn't just caught sight of-

"No one what?" Wesley asked.

Neela forced her attention back to the Englishman and realised what she had said. She searched for a decent lie. There wasn't one. so she settled for a non-answer. "No one's ever really tried it before."

"Will you be ok?"

"I've gotten away with more than this before. I should be fine. If I lie low, anyway."

"So you can't help us?"

"I can, just not as obviously as I would like."

"You always were an obvious child," said a man standing just in front of them. Wesley frowned slightly at the intruder, but Neela's eyes widened.

"Father?" she stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"Manners, Erin, manners," chided the man. "Aren't you going to introduce your friend?"

Neela blushed. "This is Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. Wes, Patrick O'Neil. My father."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr O'Neil," Wesley said, offering his hand. Mr O'Neil shook it.

"Wyndham-Pryce?" he said. "Any relation of Roger Wyndham-Pryce, the Watcher?"

Wesley almost did a double take. "Yes," he said. "He's my father. But the Council and I do not exactly see eye-to-eye."

"I know the feeling. I broke away from the Council too, almost thirty years ago. One of the best day's work I ever did."

Wesley smiled politely, and then noticed how agitated Neela looked. She was fiddling with her gloves again, rubbing her fingers.

"Erin, I need to talk to you alone for a moment," Mr O'Neil suddenly told his daughter.

"Of course," she said. Neela looked at Wesley. "It was nice to see you again," she said. Wesley smiled at her, fighting the urge to refuse to leave her with this man that made her so uncomfortable.

"You too," he said, and left, nodding his goodbye to Mr O'Neil.

Mr O'Neil gestured and they started to walk away from the busy LA streets.

"Why are you here, Erin?" he asked. "Or should it be Neela? I would've thought you'd be off slaughtering the enemies of the Clan."

"So you heard what happened." And she wanted to tell him what had really happened so badly. But she couldn't risk it.

"I heard you almost managed to escape it."

"Yeah, your brother did pretty well."

"The Clan never let a Hunter slip through their fingers. A child born in darkness can never see the light. You should remember that, Neela."

Neela stared at her feet. Her own father was calling her Neela, the name she hated so much. Erin was her birth-name and being called it even just once or twice was almost intoxicating. As she followed her father as he led them through smaller streets, Neela wondered what he would say if he knew the truth. When they stopped outside one of LA's many cemeteries, Neela frowned.

"A graveyard?" she asked. "Father, what's going on?"

Mr O'Neil swung round and slapped Neela hard on the face. She staggered back, one hand going to her cheek where there was going to be one hell of a bruise.

"How dare you call me Father?" he roared. "That is not your right!"

"I'm sorry," Neela said, straightening up. "I didn't mean to." Which was true. A stupid slip of the tongue, that's all it was. She obediently followed her father into the cemetery. A short way in, Mr O'Neil stopped and turned to face Neela again.

"Neela, you understand why I left Erin and Jonathan with my brother?" he said.

Neela looked at her father. He was talking like she was nothing to do with Erin, the girl she used to be, or her brother Jonathan. He really did believe that she was nothing more than a monster, the monster the Clan had wanted her to be. That realisation made her heart ache in her chest.

"You wanted to go after Mary, stop her. You wanted to... free her," she said. "Let her rest in peace or whatever you humans believe."

"Exactly. I gave up on my daughter to save the woman I love."

"Hardly news to me," she said. "I always knew you gave up."

"But maybe I shouldn't have."

"What?"

"If I had stayed with my children, maybe you would still be my daughter." He smiled at her, the sort of kindly, loving smile she had wanted to see all of her life. "All I want is to keep my family together."

"Your family died a long time ago. The Clan killed them all," Neela said, turning away.

"Not all." His voice sounded strange, more guttural and throaty.

She didn't want to look round. Neela already knew what she would see, but she had to do it.

His eyes were yellow, forehead bumpy and twisted.

"Oh, Father," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

He smiled again, this time a complete predatory smile. "Don't be, dearest daughter."

xxx

Cordy snapped off the lights, pulling on her coat. Yet another glamorous day in Los Angeles was over, with clients seen to and the twins finally asleep. Time to go home, long bubble bath and maybe order one of those jumbo pizzas...

She hadn't even left the reception desk when the vision hit.

As the images raced through her head, depositing information like where and when, Cordy gasped.

"Angel!" she yelled.

xxx

Neela punched her father in the face, trying to bring her hand back to hit him again. He caught her arm and twisted. Neela kicked up. O'Neil threw her into the nearest tomb. She slumped down, head spinning. He pulled Neela up and slammed her back into the tomb.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" he spat at her. "To die? Isn't this what your whole pathetic excuse for a life has been leading up to?"

Neela felt the tears staining her cheeks. She had always known something like this would happen but that didn't stop it hurting.

"Don't you want to die?" her father demanded again. "Don't you want to be killed?"

"Not by you." She swung round with her good arm, hitting O'Neil in the gut. As he doubled over, she kicked him away and started crawling. Neela forced herself to stand up and run even as her father scrambled to his feet. She couldn't beat him, even with the added bonus of her improved strength – Patrick O'Neil was a bloody legend. One of the best vampire hunters for decades, racking up a body count even higher than Holtz's and now he was a vampire. Someone up there had a ridiculously strange sense of humour.

Neela leapt over a headstone, and sprinted for the entrance. She was less than half way there when her father tackled her from behind. Neela hit the ground hard, but she rolled over onto her back. O'Neil, diving on top of her, was met by a pair of boots coming the other way. Neela used her feet to throw her father over her and flipped back onto her feet.

The pair circled each other. Neela was already breathing hard, her arm and back aching. Her father feinted to the right and Neela automatically moved to counter. He sent a spinning kick from the left and Neela was sent stumbling into a stone angel.

Patrick O'Neil, former vampire hunter and Warrior for Good, advanced on his daughter. Neela forced herself to counter the next few punches, but her blocks were sluggish. All she could hear was the blood pumping in her ears. O'Neil rammed her head into the stone angel and she numbly felt her knees give way.

"You killed my daughter!" he yelled.

"I didn't," she said weakly. "I am your daughter, or all that is left of her. And I'm sorry."

"For what? Becoming their slave? That's not what I died for."

"You never died for me. You left me to be killed or worse." She tried to fight, to shove him away.

"No. I came back for you." He leant in and his teeth dug into her neck.

Neela gasped soundlessly as he began to drink. She weakly tried to push him off, but she couldn't get her arm to move. O'Neil pulled back, ripping the wounds in her neck further, and prepared to drain her dry…

Angel raced forward, smashing a piece of a broken gravestone into O'Neil's face and pulling him away from Neela.

"This isn't your business, Angelus," O'Neil hissed. "Her place is with us, with the dead." He grinned, looking past Angel to where Neela was. "Looks like she's halfway there already."

Angel spun round to see Neela lying on the ground, blood staining her neck and shirt. A second's glance was all he needed, but when he turned back, O'Neil was already gone. He ran to Neela, ripping off one of his shirt sleeves.

"Neela?" he said, fingers checking for a pulse. He found one. It was weak, but there, which was weird in itself. She should be dead, but he wasn't about to complain. Angel wrapped the torn sleeve around her neck. There was blood on his fingers and he furiously scrubbed them on the remains of his shirt as his stomach rumbled. As he tried to scoop Neela up in his arms, she shoved him away and shrank back.

"It's ok," Angel said. "You're gonna be ok, Neela."

O'Neil loitered in the shadows, watching as Angel loaded Neela into his car and drove off.

"I told you not to do it that way," a voice said behind him. O'Neil let the vamp face fade away as he turned to the beautiful woman standing behind him. "We must dispose of the demon before trying to turn her."

"So we will. But not yet, my love."

"Was her blood sweet?"

"Taste it," he said, drawing her close.

The two vampires wrapped their arms around each other.

xxx

Neela was vaguely aware of something around her neck. Without opening her eyes, she raised one hand and touched whatever it was. Her fingers felt sticky when she took them away.

She remembered...

Bile rose in her throat and she gagged. Neela's eyes opened, registering that she was in a car and Angel was driving.

"Stop the car," she said thickly. Angel glanced at her.

"Neela-"

"Stop the car!"

Angel obediently pulled over and Neela scrambled out of the car. She doubled over and retched, her stomach rejecting everything in it. Angel climbed out of the car and was there to support Neela as her knees gave way again. For one horrible moment she thought was going to faint and she swayed. Angel picked her up again, taking her back to the car. By the time he had started the car again, Neela had lost consciousness.

xxx

"We were that close to getting our daughter back," the woman raged. O'Neil was sitting at the table with a glass of Scotch in front of him.

"We'll get her. I promised you," he reminded her.

"But Angelus will keep her close now. He knows what we're attempting."

"So we draw her back out. It'll be easy enough, Mary."

"How will it be easy?" Mary snapped.

"The girl was brought up by my brother-"

"Oh, your darling little brother." Mary smiled at the memory. "How sweet his blood was."

"Yes, but the point is, she thinks like him. And you know how easy he was to manipulate."

"But I don't know who to use this time!"

"Sweetheart, we've got all eternity. We've got time to find out." O'Neil downed his Scotch and stood up. "And I think I know where to begin."

xxx

When Angel had come back with a bloody and bruised Neela in his arms, the gang had already gathered in his room to figure out how to deal with O'Neil. All of them had been horrified. Angel told them the little he had seen as he laid Neela down on his bed. Fred and Cordy started trying to clean Neela up while Gunn almost paced a hole in the floor. The former street rat was all set to go and kick O'Neil all the way back to hell and Wesley kept saying he had known something was wrong with that man. Lorne just sat in silence. As Fred wiped the blood off Neela's neck, the girl jerked awake.

"Hey," Fred said. The others gathered round as Neela sat up, ignoring Cordy telling her not to move.

"Neela?" Wesley said. There was something weird about her eyes. They were wide and staring without seeming to see anything. Neela shoved Cordy away and tried to get up. Angel reached forward to stop her and Neela grabbed his hand and wrenched it round, snapping his wrist. Angel jerked back, but by then, Gunn and Wesley were there, holding Neela down as she tried to kick out at them.

"Neela, it's me!" Gunn yelled. She ignored him and kept struggling. "What the hell did he do to her?" he asked Angel.

"He nearly killed her," Angel said. "My guess, shock. Don't let her get up." He hurried into the bathroom and came back with a bottle of pills. "Wes, any harm in drugging her?"

"It'd probably do her good, to tell the truth," Wesley said. "She should be dead. Again." He and Gunn let Neela sit up, but held onto her arms. Angel came forward and Neela shrank back, whimpering. He took out two pills and dissolved them in a glass of water. Getting Neela to drink it proved to be more difficult. Angel eventually just forced her to by putting her in a swallow or choke situation. Fortunately, the sedatives were fast-acting and Neela was soon asleep again.

Gunn and Wesley laid Neela back on the bed and Fred started washing her neck again. Gunn couldn't stop staring at the two little holes and kept staring even as Cordy wrapped length after length of bandage around Neela's neck.

"How did this happen?" he said. "Nee's never let a vamp get that close before. Never."

"O'Neil was her father. Maybe she trusted him," Angel suggested.

Wesley shook his head. "She was afraid of him," he said. "She was afraid of him and I left her alone with him."

"But Neela didn't know what he was, right?" Gunn said. "Why'd a kid be scared of her own father?"

Wesley rubbed the back of his neck. "Not all fathers are as good as Angel," he said quietly. Angel gave him a fleeting glance as Cordy gasped behind them. Angel and Gunn jumped up, coming to see what was wrong.

Fred had gently rolled Neela onto her front to look at the bruises on her back, but she had found a lot more than that. Neela's back was covered in scars, from the base of her spine to just below her shoulder blades. Some scars were slim white lines, others were thicker, broken, but all were stretched with age.

Gunn swallowed, feeling sick. The scars were sickeningly close to ones he had once seen on Wesley's back, when the Englishman had stupidly got himself shot, and plenty of his kids in the old gang had had similar marks. Marks of beatings and fights where it was impossible to fight back. When all that had mattered was the pain being caused. But he had never seen so many before, not on just one person. Then the sickness was gone and he was just angry, angry with anyone who could do that. And from the look on Wesley's face, he felt exactly the same thing.

"Sweet mother of god," whispered Lorne, standing next to Gunn.

Gunn turned away and punched the wall. The twins woke up and started crying as one of the pictures fell down. "Sorry," he muttered. Lorne quickly went with Angel to comfort the babies and Gunn rested his hands on the wall, breathing hard.

Wesley pushed Fred's hands out of the way and pulled Neela's shirt back down. "I don't think Neela wanted us to see those," he said as Fred and Cordy left to get some clean bandages. He carefully lifted Neela up to turn onto her back, but then paused. Neela's shirt had risen up again, revealing the top of a mark on the small of her back. Wesley was no expert, but he thought he recognised it as a burn mark. It looked too neat to have been an accident. He pushed the top of Neela's jeans down slightly to get a good look at it. It was a glyph in a language he didn't recognise. This definitely hadn't been an accident.

Someone had branded Neela.

Wesley fought back the urge to hit something and instead found a piece of paper and copied the glyph. As he turned to leave the room, he almost walked right into Angel.

"What's that?" Angel asked, referring to the scrap of paper in Wesley's hand.

"Whatever it is, someone saw fit to burn it onto Neela's skin," Wesley said. Angel looked at the glyph. "You recognise the language?"

"Yeah," Angel said, voice shaking with anger. "I do."

xxx

The two men had decided not to tell anyone else about the glyph on Neela. Angel had sent Gunn out to ask Mark about O'Neil and Wesley stayed in the hotel to watch over Neela and research Patrick O'Neil. Angel himself went to Neela's flat. It was time to see an old friend.

Luckily, Neela hadn't bothered to undo Angel's invitation to her flat, although it wouldn't have surprised him if she had. He didn't have a key, but this was no time to fuss about a broken door or two. He shouldered open the door and wedged it shut behind him. The small flat smelt strongly of whisky and Angel's keen nose smelt old blood.

"Doyle?" he said. "You here?"

"In a manner of speaking," said the ghost behind him.

Angel twisted round and stared. Hearing your friend was a ghost was one thing. Seeing him was quite another.

"Wow, mate. You look like hell."

"Are you… are you ok?" Angel asked.

Doyle smiled. "Actually, I am. The whole no-solid-body thing sucks from the pleasures of the flesh point of view, but otherwise…"

Angel had to smile at that. Same old Doyle. "I'm sorry," he said.

"What are you apologising for? If I recall correctly, it was me that threw you off that platform and jumped onto a big, glowy human killing machine," Doyle said. "Does Cordy know I'm back?"

"I haven't told her yet," Angel admitted.

"Good. Do me a favour and don't."

"You don't want her to know? I mean, you-"

"No pleasures of the flesh, remember?" Doyle put his hand through a wall to demonstrate. "If we had actually got anywhere, it'd be different, but why stir all that up? Besides, I gave her the visions that nearly killed her and now she's part demon. Things have changed too much."

"You know what happened to Neela?" Angel asked.

"'Course. Would've warned her if I could."

"Do you know how I can find him?"

"Nope. The Powers don't give me that kind of information, you know that. Best I can do, he's in LA and you already knew that. But look at the photos."

Angel obeyed, examining the pictures that were just about the only personal items in the room. He snatched up the photo of O'Neil, the woman and the baby. Doyle grinned at him.

"Angel?" he said. "I can tell you one thing. O'Neil isn't working alone. Her name is Mary, and she's hell on two legs."

Angel watched his friend disappear and shivered. That had been strange.


	6. Chapter 6

Neela forced her eyes to open. Twisting her head, ignoring the pain in her neck, she saw Angel sitting by the bed.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"I'm taking care of it," he said.

Neela sat up, keeping her eyes shut until her head stopped spinning. "You're taking care of it?" she said, swinging her legs off the bed. "Well, that makes it all ok, doesn't it?" She stood up and ducked under the arm Angel put out to stop her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To stop him," Neela snapped.

"Look, we'll cope with this, ok? But together. I won't keep you in the dark and you won't do something stupid. Deal?"

"Deal," Neela said, after a long pause. "Any chance of some clean clothes? I feel really quite gross."

"Yeah, I grabbed some from your apartment. Shower's in there."

Neela picked up the clothes and disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Angel went back downstairs to talk to Wesley, but he locked the door to his room first. Just in case.

xxx

Gunn had got to Thanatos Misthos without incident, but also without hearing anything about O'Neil. The demons in the bar paid him no attention as he made his way towards Mark. Most of the deals done in here involved humans at one point or another. Killing them was bad for business. But it turned out to be a waste of time. Mark, even when Gunn told him he was a friend of Neela, refused to tell him anything. Gunn had seen the sign on the wall – "Anyone starting a fight will be eviscerated" – so that ruled out getting any information by force.

Gunn settled for telling Mark exactly where he could go and started shoving his way back to the entrance. He was so wrapped up in his own anger that he managed to walk right into a young woman.

"Ah, man, I'm sorry," he said. The woman smiled at him, holding a drink in her hand.

"No problem. Hey, I couldn't help overhearing-" she waved a hand towards Mark. "But you're really looking for O'Neil? I mean, that guy is-"

"Legendary? Yeah, I got that impression," Gunn said. "But he hurt my friend. What else am I meant to do?"

"What, that Neela chick? Sounds like she can take care of herself, from what these guys have been saying about her. I still say you're crazy to be even thinking about it, but if you really want to take on O'Neil, I heard he was seen south of the Boulevard."

Gunn was torn for a horrible moment. Go after the guy that nearly killed Neela or do what Angel told him to? "Can you show me?" he said.

"Sure," Mary said, smiling.

xxx

Wesley dropped another useless book onto the steadily growing pile. The only information he had managed to find about O'Neil was about him as a human and it was all the same stuff – once a Watcher, broke away to be a vampire hunter when his wife died, obscene death count. He had fought just about every creature of darkness that existed but, in a twist of fate that Wesley found highly ironic, his passion had always been for fighting vampires. And now he was one. Wesley sighed with annoyance and the twins, safe in their bassinet, murmured their apparent agreement. Fred, sitting on the sofa in the foyer, flipped through one of the old Watcher diaries. She wasn't having any luck either. Cordy had disappeared a couple of hours earlier to track down any attacks or killings that might be connected to O'Neil. They hadn't heard anything from her yet.

Angel had given him another name – "Mary" – to research before leaving to see where Gunn had got to. It was a common enough human name, although it was rarer for vampires, it seemed. He'd found several references to a fairly new vampire, but there were only snippets of information here and there, mostly referring to unexplained massacres and atrocities. Wesley wasn't even sure this was the right Mary, but he was starting to hope it wasn't.

He slammed the book shut and pushed it angrily away. This was a needle in a haystack. Or possibly a needle in the whole of America. Wesley's gaze was once again drawn to the glyph he had copied off Neela's back. An ancient sign to warn of evil creatures, bad luck and something void of any goodness. There was some connection to the Old Ones, the worst demons ever to walk the earth, especially one called Jo'Nekra. And someone had burnt it onto Neela's skin.

"Why would someone do that to you?" he whispered to himself.

"Why do people do anything?" O'Neil said. "So that they have power over others."

Wesley spun around, grabbing the knife he had carefully placed on the desk earlier. The vampire was standing next to the bassinet, his hand around Fred's throat, looking every inch the polite, educated man that he once had been. Well, except for the smile. That came straight from the demon.

"Mr Wyndham-Pryce, there's no need for that," O'Neil said, sounding mockingly offended. "I did not come here to fight you. Either of you," he added as Fred tried to pull away.

"Let go of her," Wesley ordered. O'Neil glanced at the bassinet.

"Such sweet children. Too sweet for my taste, though. No, Mr Wyndham-Pryce. I am not here to kill innocents." He hit Fred across the back of her head and threw her across the desk into the wall.

"Does that mean you'll leave Neela alone?" Wesley asked.

"Neela is far from innocent. She not meant to walk on this world. So I will bring her into mine."

Wesley threw the knife. O'Neil casually snatched it out of the air. "And you're going to help me," the vampire said, his face morphing.

xxx

Neela splashed water on her face, trying to ignore the throbbing on her neck. She closed her eyes, keeping herself together through sheer force of will. Neela hated this life. The constant fighting and lying and loneliness nearly killed her and now she was meant to fight Patrick O'Neil, which would completely kill her.

She had grown up hearing about his achievements. He had taken on werewolves, warlocks, zombies, even the Clan itself and barely got a scratch. O'Neil had spent over twenty years searching for one vampire and god help anything that had gotten in his way. He was the ultimate vampire hunter.

But he had lost. Something had managed to kill O'Neil. Destroy the legend that he had become. Destroyed all the good in him, leaving just a shell with his face and memories. She wondered if John had ever felt like that about her, when he heard that the Clan had made her a Hunter by ramming a demon almost as old as the Old Ones down her throat.

After all, the only difference between a vampire and a Hunter was the strength of the demon in the human host. Neela should be evil, should be worse than Angelus, and here she was worrying about her now-vampiric father and working with a Champion. But her family didn't know what she was, or rather what she wasn't. She wasn't evil. She wasn't any good either, but she wasn't evil. A combination of will power and a serum designed by Liam Reilly's father made sure of that, at least for the moment. But the demon was still in her, always fighting for a way out. Tainting her every god-damn day. She wanted to be good, so much it was almost a physical ache inside her chest, making each breath harder to take than the last. But the lines were too blurred for her now. The demon couldn't control her, anymore but sometimes it didn't have to. Angel was sweet, thinking he could somehow save her from herself or whatever, but the world didn't work like that. It didn't want her to be saved and who was she to argue with the whole world?

But right now, the whole world wasn't the problem. Her father was a vampire and that was a big problem. She didn't really know her father, but she didn't want to kill him. God knew what John would make of that. Although the Clan would love it if she did and that in itself was a reason not to do it. But she knew the drill. She knew what Paul and her father would want her to do. So she'd do it. No matter how much it tore her up inside.

Neela left the bathroom and found her boots, pulling them on and lacing them up tight. Lorne, who had been sent to watch her, lay unconscious in his chair with his half-empty glass of sea breeze broken on the floor. Angel should never have left those sedatives lying around. She had heard Angel lock the door, which was a fairly sensible thing to do. Of course, thinking that a simple lock would be enough to keep her in here was one of the stupidest things he had ever done. She broke the lock with a handful of good kicks.

She had made it downstairs and opened the weapon's cabinet before she realised just how quiet the hotel was. Something wasn't right. Neela pulled a sword out of the cabinet and walked into the main office. The twins were still in their bassinet, both sleeping peacefully. But Angel had never left the twins alone since the day they were born, and he definitely wouldn't start when there was a threat like O'Neil running around LA.

A groan from behind the desk made Neela jump, but when she cautiously peered over the desk, it was only Fred. Neela put the sword down on the desk and pulled Fred up into a sitting position.

"Fred, what happened?" she asked.

"It was O'Neil," Fred whispered. "He took Wesley." Her eyes rolled up in her head and Neela knew she had lost consciousness again.

Neela laid Fred back on the floor and snatched up the sword. She didn't care what Angel had said. She had let that thing go and it had come after her friends. Neela didn't have that many friends and she was damned if she was going to let her father do anything to hurt one of them. She was turning to leave when one of Wesley's books caught her eye. _The vampire known as 'Mary' was last seen in Europe in 1985._

"Mary?" Neela said. Her memory suddenly pulled the right lever. "Oh, shit!"

"Neela, what have you done?" Cordy said from behind her. Talk about worst possible moment. Neela was standing above a knocked-out Fred with a sword in her hands.

"Cordy," she said. "This isn't what it looks like. And I'm really sorry for this-" She swung with her left hand, hitting Cordy on the cheekbone. The brunette hit the floor and Neela cracked her knuckles. The folder Codelia had been holding fell to the floor and Neela picked it up, opening it to find a map with one building circled in red ink.

"Time for a family reunion," she said, dropping the map again and leaving the two unconscious women alone. This was going to be interesting.

xxx

Gunn groaned and opened his eyes. He instantly wished he hadn't bothered. He was in some old building and had no idea where that was, with his hands tied behind his back. Rolling onto his side, Gunn saw Wesley in the same condition.

"English," Gunn hissed. "English, wake up!"

Wesley muttered something but didn't open his eyes. Gunn managed to jerk forward to kick the other man.

"Gunn? What the devil?" Wesley said. His eyes widened as he remembered. "O'Neil."

"Yeah, and some vamp bitch," Gunn said.

"Oh, that's not very nice," Mary said, moving to stand in front of them. "It was only a little punch, Charlie boy."

The 'little punch' had left a bruise that covered the whole of Gunn's cheek.

"Don't call me Charlie boy!"

"Isn't that what Neela called you? When you two actually knew each other?" Mary said. "Oh, don't be so surprised. What sort of mother would I be if I didn't keep tabs on my children?"

"You're a soulless vampire," Wesley said. "What kind of mother can you be?"

"No need to be bitter, Mr Wyndham-Pryce," O'Neil said, slipping his arm around his wife. "We're only giving our daughter a purpose."

"And what would that be?" Neela asked, standing in the doorway with a sword in her hand.

"Darling," Mary said, looking for a moment like any proud mother. "How wonderful that you could come."

"Mother, I assume," Neela said. "Strange. I always thought of you as shorter. And Father's here, of course. If only John was here. We could have a proper party then. Blood and guts for all."

"So flippant still. Did the death of Paul teach you nothing?" Mary said. The vampires started moving toward Neela.

"You killed him, didn't you," Neela said. "And you claim family is so important to you."

"If it wasn't for you, Paul would have joined us in eternal live."

"If it wasn't for you, Paul would still be breathing. Don't try the guilt trip on me, Mary. It won't work. I won't lose control that easily."

"What if I kill your friends? Would that make you lose control? Or would you prefer to do it yourself?" Mary smiled, enjoying the moment. In her twisted mind, this was the best thing she had ever had the chance to do. O'Neil moved silently around to block Neela's way out.

"I'm not running away, Father," Neela said without moving her gaze from the vampire that had once been her mother. "So you're the one I got my nose from. My mother. Kinda a big deal, I suppose, us having to fight like this."

"Getting sentimental on me, Neela?" Mary replied.

"Did you ever care about what happened to me? I know the Clan told you that they wanted me. Named you as the mother of evil and all that. Did that worry you?"

"Not really."

"Figures. Anyhow, as you're both going to be dust piles fairly shortly, I guess I should let you know that I'm not what you think I am."

"I think you're a highly arrogant kid," said O'Neil.

"Well, I'm not that either," she said. "Don't worry, it doesn't matter. I mean, you would only care if you were still alive. So, will you let the guys go or-"

"Man, I thought she'd forgotten about us," Gunn muttered.

"Dear child, when you are reborn, you will need nourishment. No, they will not go," Mary said. Neela spun the sword in her hand, loosening stiff muscles.

"So we have to fight?" Neela asked. O'Neil and Mary vamped out and roared. "I'll take that as a yes."

O'Neil dived in, swiping at Neela. She jumped up, somersaulting over him to kick Mary in the face. Neela ducked his punch and kicked Mary again, this time in the stomach, forcing the vampire back. O'Neil grabbed her and lifted her up, slamming her back into the floor. Neela brought her foot down onto his head and rolled up, still holding the sword.

Gunn strained to reach the knife strapped to his ankle and just managed to grab it. As Neela dodged and ducked her parents' attacks, he flipped the blade open and leant over to cut Wesley's bonds.

Mary grabbed Neela's sword arm, twisting in around and up until Neela sliced her own back. Neela slammed her other elbow into Mary's throat and swung the sword desperately at O'Neil, who caught it and wrenched it out of her grip. Mary dropped and swung one leg round to scythe Neela's legs out from under her. Neela flipped back onto her feet and got hit from behind by her father. She fell forward and Mary caught hold of her, bringing her knee up to collide with Neela's face.

As Wesley grabbed the knife and started to cut Gunn free, Neela let lose with a vicious mixture of punches and kicks. But it wasn't enough.

O'Neil got the sword and slashed with it, slicing across Neela's arm. Mary got thrown to the side as Wesley and Gunn flung themselves into the fight. They danced around the vampire, not staying in one place long enough for her to be able to hit back hard. Wesley tipped Mary up and Gunn stomped down with one foot. Mary caught the foot and threw Gunn back into Wesley. She stood up again, smiling. It was a long time since she'd had this much fun.

Neela charged at O'Neil, who sidestepped her and pushed her into the wall. She fell to the ground, winded. O'Neil levelled the sword at her, ready for the killing blow.

"Is this what it comes down to?" he asked. "No weapons, no pet demon, no friends? What can there possibly be left?"

He thrust forward with the sword. Neela's right hand shot up and caught the blade, tightening her grip even as blood seeped through her fingers.

"Everything I need." She twisted the blade, snapping it out of his hands and bringing the handle around to smash into his face. As O'Neil fell back, Neela felt the sword slip out of her blood-covered fingers.

Mary crouched over Gunn, pulling him up to break his neck. A crossbow bolt came out of nowhere and buried itself in her side. Fred stood by Angel, already reloading the crossbow in her hands. As Angel ran to help Neela, Mary pulled the bolt out of herself and stabbed Gunn in the stomach with it.

"Charles!" Fred screamed.

Mary laughed as Fred franticly tried to reload the crossbow. Mary snatched it from her hands and hit Fred around the head with it. Gunn head-butted Mary and threw her off him, crawling towards Fred. Wesley grabbed Mary and pulled her away from Fred and Gunn, but the vampire twisted in his grip and threw him through the door and down the stairs outside.

Angel and Neela faced off to the two vampires, all of them circling, looking for an opening.

"Fighting vampires with a vampire?" Mary sneered. "I thought you said you weren't what I thought you were."

"Been there, done the moral wrestling," Neela said, releasing the wrist-stakes she had borrowed from Angel. "Let's finish this."

"Angelus, this is a family affair," O'Neil said. "You have no right to be here." He slammed his foot into the floor. "Circling arms, raise a wall!"

The spell spread from where he had stamped, whipping out to create a dome surrounding Neela and her parents. As the magic rose, it shoved Angel out as well. Neela was on her own.

"I don't want to hurt you, Neela," O'Neil said. "I never meant to hurt you."

"No. You just abandoned me and Johnny, left us with a man who you must have known would never have been able to protect us-"

"I had no choice. The power of the Clan is great and far-reaching," he said. "I couldn't look after you then but I can help you now. I can free you!"

"No, you can't. You wouldn't stop the pain, just change it."

"A change is as a good as a rest, right?" O'Neil said.

"Not when you can make it stop completely." Neela looked through the barrier, seeing Angel still pounding on it. Guy really didn't give up.

"I'll stop it, you bitch," Mary yelled, coming forward to attack. Neela dodged under her arm, twisted up behind her and stabbed forward with the stake. Mary screamed, vanishing into a scattering of dust. Neela turned back to her father, who looked horror-struck.

"I really am sorry, Father," she said. "I wish I could have helped you."

"It wasn't your place to help me. You're not my daughter, Erin. You never were."

"I know," she said, tears in her eyes. "But I'm still sorry. And I'll find some way to fight the Clan."

He smiled. "But you're one of them."

She kicked him in the chest, catching him off guard and sending him into his own barrier. With one hand around his neck and a stake in the other, Neela stared at her father's face one last time. "No, 'cause, you see, Daddy, I'm not a real Hunter. I'm something else."

She ripped a silver ring off his finger and slammed the stake into his heart.

Angel watched as the dome dissolved. Neela stood up, still looking at the two piles of dust on the floor. Furiously, she pulled the wrist-stakes off and threw them away. She turned to see Fred wrapping a strip of Gunn's shirt around his stomach and Wesley was coming back up the stairs, blood trickling from a gash on his forehead. Angel was just standing there, staring at her. Carefully, she wiped her bleeding palm on her jeans.

"Neela?" Angel asked softly.

Neela shoved past Angel and Wesley, running down the stairs. Wesley started to follow her, but Angel stopped him.

"She'll want to be alone," he said. "There isn't anything we can do for her now."

xxx

A block away from that building, Neela stopped running and leant against the wall. Opening one hand, she stared at the plain silver band that glinted in the dim light. A wedding ring for a couple that had been torn apart by the Clan just to get to her.

Very deliberately, she slid the ring onto her thumb.

"What do you want?" she demanded harshly.

"I have to say, Erin, I'm impressed," said Lilah, coming out of the shadows. "You just beat one of the best."

"Don't call me that, Lilah," Neela snapped.

"Of course, Neela. I just came to say that we spoke with the Clan. They have agreed that we should help you get the twins from Angel."

"No way am I working with you," she replied. "Caitlin is mine. The Clan need her."

"Fine. So you take Caitlin, we'll take Connor. We can't wait to find out what makes him tick," Lilah said with a smile.

Neela wasn't smiling. "If you know what's good for you, little lawyer, you will stay the hell out of my business. I don't need your help."

She turned to walk away, but Lilah spoke again.

"We know where John is, Neela. We can have him taken out at any moment."

"Please do," Neela called back, continuing to walk. "He could do with some fun," she muttered under her breath.

xxx

Back at the hotel, Fred was cleaning Gunn's stab wound.

"I don't think it hit anything important," she said, wrapping bandages around Gunn's stomach.

"What, I'm not important?" he joked.

"You think this is funny?" Fred demanded. Even Gunn could hear the anger in her voice.

"You scared I'm gonna die on you, or something? It's just a scratch."

"But I thought… Oh, just forget it!"

Gunn caught her arm as she tried to leave. "If you care that much, then getting stabbed was the best thing I've done in a long time."

Fred hesitated, unsure of his meaning, but then she saw the look in his eyes and she smiled. "I was certain you had a thing for Neela," she whispered.

"I thought you and Wesley had a thing," Gunn said.

"That's enough talk, don't you think?" Fred leant in as Gunn wrapped his arms around her.

xxx

Wesley found Neela at Thanatos Misthos. Her new bruises were coming up nicely, colouring her normally pale face in several shades of blue and purple, and her hand was covered in bandages. With a smile, he sat down opposite her.

"Hi, Wes," she said, staring at her drink.

"Are you ok?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you're blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault."

There was a long pause before Neela looked up at his face. "Or maybe I'm blaming myself for something that is entirely my fault."

"Your parents weren't killed because of you, Neela."

"I wasn't talking about that, Wesley," she said, standing up. "Don't come here again. Don't try to contact me."

"Why?" he asked, completely confused.

"I might have to do something I don't want to, Wesley. And I don't want you to get hurt. I've given you all the help I can, so just leave me alone. Got it?" She didn't wait for an answer but strode off.

Wesley watched her go, worried. What did she mean by that? What had she given that would help him now? Then he remembered the folder of prophecies. He leapt to his feet and hurried out of the bar.

xxx

Wesley sat alone in the office, looking at the paper in front of him. He had just finished translating one of the texts he had got from Neela. But it couldn't be right. He had to have a made a mistake somewhere. Frantically, he checked and double-checked his work.

_The Father_

_Will Kill_

_The Son_


	7. Chapter 7

xxx

Wesley stared at the words written on the paper in front of him. This wasn't possible. Angel loved Connor, loved Caitlin. He wouldn't hurt either of them. He would never… It wasn't possible.

But no matter where he had looked, he couldn't find anything to disprove the prophecy. Everywhere he went led him back to those six little words.

_The Father_

_Will Kill_

_The Son_

Wesley shoved the translation in the drawer, locking it shut, and picked up his jacket. There was only one more thing he could do.

As he was leaving the office, he saw the twins in their bassinet. Almost as if he knew about the prophecy, Connor started to cry. Caitlin, always one to follow her brother, quickly joined it.

"Wes, don't you know what you're meant to do?" Angel said. Wesley jumped. "You pick 'em up when they fuss." He picked up Caitlin and passed her to Wesley before picking up Connor.

Wesley rocked Caitlin and watched Angel with Connor. He had never realised before how Angel lit up when he held his son or daughter. When Caitlin stopped crying, he gently put her back into the bassinet.

"I have to leave the office," he said, staring at the tiny baby. "I need to get some… reference materials for this translation."

Angel nodded, his attention still on Connor. Wes smiled at them together and slipped out of the office.

xxx

Wesley made a few phone calls, swore several wizards to secrecy and brought an electronic compass. He pushed his way through the bushes, following the directions from the compass.

"Thirty four degrees twelve minutes north. One eighteen, twenty one, West," he muttered. The compass let out a soft chime. "This must be it."

He was standing in front of a giant hamburger.

"If this doesn't work, I'm going to kill that wizard," he said, putting the compass away and pulling out a small bag. "Mange sec Loa, alegba, accept this offering and open the gates of truth." Wesley threw some powder over the hamburger, and instantly brought his hand up to shield his eyes as the hamburger flashed with red light.

"How dare you call on the Loa?!" the hamburger roared.

"I come in supplication, oh great one, begging for answers only your power can reveal," Wesley said quickly, almost gabbling the sacred words in his haste.

"You may ask," the Loa said.

"Is it true? Will Angel kill Connor?"

"Not even my power can tell you that for certain. This is a crossroads in the fate of the world. Not even the Powers can see past this time until it had passed."

"How can I stop it from happening?"

"You cannot. It has already begun. But you already knew that. Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answer?"

"It's a human thing, I suppose." Wesley stared at the Loa. At any other time, the idea of talking to a giant hamburger would have been funny. "What do I do?"

"Another question to which you already know the answer. If Connor dies, Angelus will be freed. I believe you would not wish that to happen."

"There has to be another way," Wesley yelled.

"Your insolence is displeasing. If you are not willing to do what must be done, I suggest you find someone who is."

The red light flashed again, reducing the Loa to the giant hamburger again. Wesley closed his eyes, running his hands through his hair. A rustling in the bushes made him spin around and he caught a glimpse of a black leather jacket and red hair, moving away quickly. Justine. Wesley threw the bag of powder to one side and followed.

xxx

Holtz watched as his newest followers practiced on the chained up vampires.

"I must say, I love what you've done with the place," Wesley said, standing in the doorway.

Holtz merely stood up, but Justine grabbed a sword and one of the newer recruits pulled out a knife.

"Maybe we should cut out his tongue - send a message to Angelus," he said, eyes fixed on Wesley.

"Maybe," Wesley said. He hauled back and hit the man hard on the windpipe. Holtz raised one hand to stop the others from attacking Wesley as the first man dropped to the ground.

"Or perhaps you could lie on the floor and gag for a while," Wesley said. He looked around at the others. "Quite the little cult, Holtz. Very impressive." Wesley stepped over the moaning body of his attacker.

"Yes, I'm very proud," Holtz replied in the same deadpan tone of voice as always. "Have you seen the errors of your way and come to join us?" He thought he knew why the loyal little Englishman was here, but he had to know for sure.

"Not today," Wesley replied.

"Then I would suppose that you are here because of the prophecy. You're afraid he's going to hurt the child. And you're right."

"You have been paying close attention to us," Wesley said.

"I know that your young friend Neela had to stake her own parents last week. Didn't you ever think that one day the twins might be put into a similar situation? Unfortunately for them, it might come before they are old enough to defend themselves."

"How do you know of the prophecy anyway?" Wesley asked.

"I don't need prophecies to tell me what is plain. So long as the child remains with the demon, it's not safe."

"Funny," Wesley said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Here I thought it was a simple blood vendetta, when what you really want is to protect Angel's son and daughter."

Holtz smiled. "You don't believe me." It wasn't a question.

"Hmm. Not sure really. Could be the low scary voice that's giving me trouble."

"It's time to make a decision, Mr. Wyndham-Pryce. My army is strong and will only increase in number. Fight against us - and this war will become a bloodbath."

"This isn't war. It's revenge," Wesley said.

Justine pointed her sword at Wesley. "What's wrong with revenge? It's all some of us have left."

"Look, I can't know what it's been like for any of you-" Wesley said.

Holtz interrupted: "You might soon enough."

Wesley looked at Holtz, hating him for saying that. Hating him for maybe being right.

"When I put my son's body into the ground, I had to open the coffin, just to know that he really was in there. You also may discover that a child's coffin, Mr. Wyndham-Pryce, it weighs nothing."

"Why should I believe anything you say?"

"Well, your problem isn't me right now. Your problem is your friend is going to kill his own children. You know you have to do something about it. You know if you don't, I will. Don't misunderstand me. I won't stand by while an innocent child is murdered - but I won't attack and endanger other innocent lives unless I'm forced to."

Wesley paused for a moment. "How long do I have?"

"I'll give you one day. You may not trust me, but I trust you to do what's right. One day. After that... everyone will get hurt. And watch out for your little friend."

"Who, Neela?"

"Yes. She is not want she is meant to be."

"What is she meant to be?"

"On your side."

xxx

Neela's hand tightened around the stake in her pocket. It was now or never. Do the job or die trying. She never had been good at working under pressure, though. As she stood outside the Hyperion Hotel, Neela cursed the situations that had brought her here. Okay, she just had to calm down. Go in, stake Angel, grab Caitlin, be outta town asap. She could do this. She had to do this.

But then she looked in the window. Neela saw Lorne playing with the twins, Cordelia laughing, Gunn and Fred talking in a corner. She remembered when she'd seen the whole group together outside the hospital, and she had felt so jealous of the tiny babies.

Was she evil enough to take their happiness away just because she didn't have any for herself?

For a long moment, Neela couldn't move. In the last few years, the lines between good and bad had become so blurred for her that she bounced from one to the other like a rubber ball and hardly ever noticed. She was losing the fight against Jo'Nekra.

But she hadn't lost it yet.

She threw the stake away. To hell with the Clan and its orders, and to hell with saving her own skin. She'd walk in there and tell Angel everything and then leave for good and find someplace where she could be kept under control. Or go back and let the Clan kill her. Either worked for her.

Gunn glanced up as the door opened, grinning widely when he saw who it was.

"Nee!" he cried, bouncing up off the sofa. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," she replied, returning the smile. "I just came to say thanks for looking out for me, when O'Neil and Mary came after me."

"Anytime, kiddo," Lorne said, speaking for the whole group, as he often did. "Next time, could you not drug me, though?"

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that," she said, sitting down.

Angel opened the fridge, picking up the bottle of pig's blood and sloshing some into a glass. The bottle was already half-empty and he'd only brought it the day before. As he gulped down the blood, he saw Neela sitting with Gunn and Fred, chatting to them and smiling as Cordy and Lorne kept an eye on the children.

Connor began to cry as Angel finished the blood and licked his lips. Cordy picked him up.

"Angel, I think Connor needs some papa-love," she said, holding the baby out to Angel. Angel ignored her and got more blood from the fridge. He knocked back the fresh blood.

"He needs a lot of things. All day, every day," he said as he finished.

Lorne forced a smile. "Well, yeah. That's kind of how kids..."

"Connor needs a bath, Connor needs a bottle, what Connor needs is to grow up!"

Angel poured more blood, but his shaking hands made him spill it. Neela was standing now, not smiling any more, and she reached out to pull Cordy and the baby behind her.

"Is something wrong?" Lorne asked, looking worried.

"Gosh, no, Lorne, everything's just great! I got a kid that cries, pees and moans, and never gives me a moment to myself."

Connor was still crying. Caitlin, for once, was silent and Neela moved slightly to be between Angel and both the twins.

Cordy frantically rocked Connor. "Hey, it's all right."

"It's really not," Angel corrected her. "Connor, shut up!"

"Don't yell at him. He's just a baby!" Fred said. The whole gang was on their feet now, staring at Angel.

Angel half turned away and Neela saw how he was shaking. She slowly walked forward and put one hand on his arm.

"Angel, what's-"

Angel swung around, knocking off Neela's hand and slamming his fist into her face. Neela spun round with the force of the blow and smashed into the reception desk, taking hold of it to stop herself.

Gunn grabbed his crossbow from the table and pointed it at Angel. "You better get a grip right now!" he shouted. Angel looked horrified with himself as Neela turned around, a bruise already forming across her cheek. Blood dripped from her nose.

"Neela, I didn't mean to…" Angel said. Neela ignored him and moved to stand between Angel and his children again. She wiped the blood off her face with the back of her hand, never taking her eyes off Angel. "What the hell's happening to me?" he asked.

xxx

A lot can happen in five minutes. It was long enough for a man to snap, hit one of his friends and threaten one of his infant children. It was also long enough for Fred to find traces of human blood in the supposedly-pig's-blood Angel had been drinking.

Neela was sitting on the floor next to the twin's bassinet, an icepack against her cheek and nose. Angel came to stand next to her.

"Neela, I'm so sorry-"

"Try and touch the twins before we've sorted this out, I'll kill you," Neela interrupted, refusing to look at him. Her voice sounded strange with the bloody nose.

"Thanks," Angel said.

"It's their blood, isn't it?" she asked.

Angel nodded. "Yeah. Now I know it's there, I can smell it. It's theirs. Connor's more than Caitlin's and not much of it, but still enough to-"

"Make you completely freak out and do God-only-knows-what? Kind of figured that out for myself. So, what do want to do about it?" The last question was directed to the rest of the gang.

"Well, they've been feeding Angel his kids' blood so he, what, gets the taste of it and wants more?" Lorne said. Fred nodded.

"So who's 'they'?" Neela asked.

Angel finally put two and two together, and got something similar to four. "Who do you think?" he said.

xxx

"I don't think the contract said that, Gavin," Lilah said down the phone. "Yes, well, there's a girl downstairs that knows everything that has ever happened and I think she'll agree with me." She hung up, smiling to herself. Lilah loved proving Gavin wrong. Not that it was very hard.

"Still knocking 'em dead, Lilah?"

She didn't jump, and she didn't press the emergency button under her desk. Angel had already cost her more than enough in replacing security staff and medical bills.

"Oh, I have my uses," she said, smiling at the vampire.

"Like trying to get me to kill my own children?" Angel said, leaning on her desk.

"As much as I'd love to take credit, not my work," Lilah said, intrigued. "Wow. Someone finally got you to snap? Oh, Darla hasn't come back from the dead again, has she?"

Angel grabbed Lilah by the throat and slammed her against the wall. "Why do you think I find it so hard to believe you, Lilah? This whole situation reeks of Wolfram and Hart."

"Then maybe that nose of yours is on the fritz," Lilah said, doing her best not to sound scared. She almost pulled it off.

"So if you didn't do it, who did?"

"That would've been me," said Sahjhan, shimmering into existence next to Lilah's desk.

Angel stared at him and dropped Lilah. "Do I know you?" he said.

Sahjhan ignored him. "Love the office. Now, I'm familiar with Wolfram and Hart, both in this and other dimensions. Why, exactly, would the Champion of the Pathetic be having a meeting with Wolfram and Hart's finest?"

"I was trying to throttle her," Angel said.

"Sahjhan, right?" Lilah said. "He's the guy that brought Holtz back into the game," she told Angel. "We should do lunch sometime." Both Sahjhan and Angel ignored that comment.

"Right. How'd that work out for you?" Angel said.

"Are the brats dead yet or not?" Sahjhan asked. Angel leapt at Sahjhan, went right through him and hit the floor, hard. "I'll take that as a no."

"Why do want my kids dead?" Angel asked, picking himself back up.

"Well, we are sworn enemies," Sahjhan said.

Lilah perked up at those words and gave Sahjhan a very charming smile. "We should definitely do lunch sometime," she said.

"Sworn enemy? Really? Have we met? Because I don't remember any swearing," Angel said.

"This isn't over, Angelus. You will pay," Sahjhan said.

"For what?" Angel asked.

Sahjhan just disappeared into thin air. Lilah chose this moment to hit the emergency button. When Angel had beaten several guards to a fine pulp and left, Sahjhan reappeared.

"Why do you want those children dead?" Lilah asked.

"I have my reasons. Wanna help?"

"I'm sorry, but this firm's policy is to leave both Angel and his children alone until they become useful." Lilah scribbled on a piece of paper and held it up.

_Count me in_

"Is there any other way I can help you?" she said.

"I need some information for another project I am working on," Sahjhan said, choosing his words carefully. "The information may be very difficult to obtain, if not impossible. I need to know everything about Neela-"

Lilah pulled a folder out of the drawer and dropped it on the desk. "That's all we have on her."

"Oh. Um, could you give me the highlights?"

"She's a Hunter, made by the Clan almost ten years ago. Seems to be working for Angel, for some reason that we have no idea about. Neela's been involved in some very violent and bloodstained acts, but nothing recently. At least, nothing involving humans."

"And what is your firm's stand on Neela?"

"If she's a problem, we may decide to get rid of her, but not before that. You can do whatever you like, however, and I can help."

"So tell me, what's her connection to the Powers?"

xxx

"Angel, I know you've been around for a while and surely the sworn enemies must mount up just a little," Cordelia said, leaning back in her chair. "But you really can't remember this Sajy-anna guy?"

"Sahjhan, and no," Angel said. "And I don't have that many sworn enemies."

"Fifty-nine at last count, including at least four of my bosses," Neela said, sitting next to the bassinet. "Plus about a thousand that just want you dead." The gang stared at her. "What? You hear these things when you live off bounties."

"But this still leaves the problem of Angel nearly losing it," Lorne said.

"I think my nose says he lost it," Neela pointed out. "Not that I'm bitter or anything."

"Well, we threw out all the spiked blood," said Fred.

"But we can't say it won't happen again," Gunn finished.

"I can check all the blood we buy for anymore traces, so Angel doesn't have to starve himself," Fred said.

"How long will the… twitchiness last?" Lorne asked.

"No way to tell," Fred shrugged.

Neela raised one hand. "Um, if I actually say what everyone's thinking, will you hit me again?" she asked Angel.

"You think I shouldn't keep Connor and Caitlin here," he said. Neela nodded slowly. "Until we know for sure this won't happen again, that's probably a good idea. Will you take them?"

"Me?" Neela said. "Both of them?"

"Fred, Gunn and Lorne all live in the hotel and Cordy wouldn't be able to fight me off if something went wrong," Angel said.

"Oh, now we're expecting something to go wrong?"

Wesley walked into the office at that moment, looking thoughtful. He seemed quite surprised to see everyone there. "Oh," he said. "What did I miss? Neela, what happened to your nose?"

"We uncovered a plot to kill the twins at the expense of my beauty," she said. "Hey, Wes can take the twins, couldn't he?"

"What? Take the twins where?" Wesley said. Suddenly he wanted to go and talk to the hamburger again. It would make more sense.

"Simple," Cordy said. "Neela takes Caitlin and Wesley has Connor for the night."

Neela and Wesley shared a look. "Fine," they said.

Cordy and Fred told Neela everything she would need to look after Caitlin for the night, with Angel chipping in at almost every point. Neela put the baby bay over her shoulder and took Caitlin to Angel. Angel cradled Caitlin and kissed her forehead before handing her back to Neela.

"I'll bring her back in the morning," Neela said. "See you then."

"How will you get home?" Wesley asked. "I could give you a lift, if you want."

"I'll be ok," Neela said, shifting her hold on Caitlin slightly. It was an odd sight: a young woman in tight black jeans and a too-big leather jacket with a bloody nose and fresh scars on her neck, cradling a baby with uncharacteristic gentleness. The grim smile she normally showed to the world was gone, leaving a strange pain in her eyes. "I swear I'll look after her," Neela suddenly said to Angel. "You know that, right?"

"Course I do," Angel reassured her. Neela seemed to come back to herself and left the hotel, muttering something that sounded like an apology.

"Does anyone know what that was about?" Fred asked.

The gang looked at each other. No one seemed to have any idea what Neela had been talking about. After a few uncomfortable moments, Gunn, Fred and Cordy left to get some food. Lorne went to check on Connor. Wesley was staring into empty space, hating himself for even thinking about what he was planning to do. But if Angel had come that close to hurting someone seriously, what if the prophecy was true? Angel would never willingly hurt his children, but he didn't have to be willing.

"Well, I guess I should get going," Wesley said finally.

"Before you go, you know anything about a demon called Sahjhan?" Angel said. "He says we're sworn enemies but I don't know him from Adam."

"Doesn't ring any bells," Wesley said. "But I've got some good demon texts back at my flat. I'll do some research tonight; see if I can dig anything up."

"That's probably a good idea. Oh, um, just wait for a minute, all right?" Angel hurried up the stairs. Wesley paused for a moment and then walked into the office to get Connor.

Lorne was just packing up some of Connor's things into a bag when Wesley entered. "Hey. You ready for your taste of fatherhood?" he joked.

"It's strange. I mean, Angel's barely let the twins out of his sight since they were born." Wesley picked up Connor and jiggled him as he started to fuss.

"Yeah, it's weird-" Lorne started.

He trailed off as Wesley started humming to the fussy baby and his eyes widened. Wesley gently put Connor back into the bassinet and launched himself at Lorne as the green demon tried to get out of the office and slammed him back into the desk. They struggled together for a few moments before Wesley grabbed a heavy paperweight and smacked Lorne across the temples with it. The demon fell unconscious and Wesley stashed him behind the desk, praying he could get out before anyone found Lorne. Wesley picked Connor and the half-full baby bag, walking out of the office and straight into Angel.

"Angel," he said. "Uh, Connor's seems to settling down now, so maybe I should-"

"Yeah, you're right." Angel forced a smile.

"Do you want to say goodbye?" Wesley asked. He felt like his heart was being torn in half. Angel took Connor and passed Wesley a page torn from his sketchbook.

"That's Sahjhan," he said. "Thought it might help." He kissed Connor on the cheek. "Sleep tight, little guy." Angel reluctantly passed Connor back to Wesley.

"I'll, uh, I'll see everyone tomorrow," Wesley said, hurrying out of the hotel, into the street. He almost walked into Gunn, Fred and Cordy as they returned with food and pushed past them with hardly a word.

Angel was sitting in the lobby, looking incredibly lost, when Gunn, Fred and Cordy walked in. Fred was still munching on the remains of a giant sandwich, but she swallowed her mouthful quickly. Cordy just smiled at Angel.

"Whoa," he said. "My first night alone without the kids. You know," he got up and started to clear away the toys scattered around the floor. "I think this'll be good for all of us." He looked at the cuddly toy in his hands.

"We'll stay up with you," Cordy said, smiling.

xxx

Doyle sat in Neela's apartment, fidgeting. The Powers had already told him about what had happened that morning and its cause. Now he just prayed Neela got there in time for him to tell her what Wesley thought was happening. And so he could convince her not to do anything stupid. His boss had taken a risk in bringing Neela into the fold, but her decision this afternoon seemed to show that it had been worth it.

He stared around the dank apartment, at the weapons and the photos on the wall. And Cordelia had thought her first apartment was bad. Next to the mattress was a new framed photograph. Doyle crouched down to get a good look at it. It was of the Angel Investigations team, complete with Connor, Caitlin and Neela. Doyle looked at Cordy, with her new short hair and the same old smile. He suddenly realised how Angel must have felt about his beloved Buffy.

Standing up again, Doyle crossed to the phone. Neela was taking too long. He concentrated and picked up the phone with only a little difficulty.

"Doyle, I assume," said a voice behind him. Doyle jumped and the phone dropped through fingers that suddenly weren't solid anymore.

"Who's asking?" he said, turning around. Doyle gulped – it was a demon in a tall robe with strange markings all over his face. "Oh. You."

"Yes, me, little man," Sahjhan said. "Now, why don't you tell me all about Neela?"

"As both of us are incorporeal, you can't really threaten me, you know," Doyle said, backing up.

Sahjhan smiled. "Whilst ripping your head off would give me great pleasure, I have a much more… interesting plan for you."

"Getting rid of me won't stop Neela from kicking the crap out of you when she finds up what you're up to."

"Oh, that's not why I'm here, little ghostie. You see, in about half an hour or so, you were going to have a vision. A vision that I don't want you to pass onto Neela."

"What vision?"

"Don't worry; you'll still get the vision. You'll be able to feel her pain and fear. You just won't be able to do anything about it."

Doyle felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. Sahjhan raised one hand, showing Doyle the glass box he was holding. At the same time, Doyle heard someone walking along the corridor outside. A key scraped in the lock as Sahjhan began to chant.

"Neela!" Doyle yelled as Sahjhan raised the box higher and Doyle felt himself being pulled in. The door opened as Doyle vanished from the face of the earth again. Sahjhan swiftly turned and left the room, walking straight through one of the walls, taking the box with him. Neela came into the room, still holding Caitlin.

"Doyle?" she called. "Are you here?" There was no response. Neela frowned. She could've sworn she had heard something.

She put the sleeping baby down on the mattress. Neela stared at Caitlin. Why did Angel have to put her in this position? She'd just decided not to take the tiny girl and now he handed Caitlin to her! She'd just go over to Wesley's and hand the baby over and then leave, easy as that. Much better. When the phone rang, she almost leapt out of her skin. Shaking herself, she grabbed the receiver.

_Please don't let it be the Clan, please._

"Wesley? What's wrong?" she said. "Yeah, course I'll come over. Be there in a few."

She picked up Caitlin and left the apartment. Through the window, a shadowy figure peered in, watching Neela leave with the vampire's daughter in her arms.

xxx

_Just to warn you, this story probably won't be updated again until about the 20th January, as I have mocks. Curse education... But I will be back, promise. Meanwhile, feel free to entertain, encourage or, if you must, educate me through reviews. _


	8. Chapter 8

Wesley put his suitcase into the boot of his car and slammed it shut. Connor was safe inside the flat, and soon Neela would be here with Caitlin. He still wasn't sure how he was going to get Caitlin away from Neela, but he'd find a way. He had to. The incident that afternoon had confirmed his worse fears, and Neela herself had implied that she couldn't be trusted, although he had no idea why.

He walked back inside, shutting the door behind him, and went to the cupboard to get the shotgun. When the door-bell rang, Wesley nearly put a shotgun cartridge through the door. When he opened it to reveal Neela and Caitlin, Neela looked at the shotgun still in his hands.

"Ok, I'm getting a lot of paranoid vibes from you today, Wes," Neela said. "Expecting someone else?"

Wesley blushed and put the shotgun down. "Uh, sorry about that. Please, come in."

Neela walked in and gently put Caitlin down on the sofa next to Connor. Behind her, Wesley quietly opened the drawer and saw a small tranquiliser gun. He knew it was loaded.

"So what's this all about?" Neela said, turning back to face Wesley. Or to look down the barrel of a gun. "How'd you find out?"

"Sorry Neela. I didn't want this to happen," Wesley said. He pulled the trigger, firing off six darts. Neela dodged the first one but the remaining five caught her in the chest and arm.

Wesley watched as Neela slumped to the ground, still fighting as the drugs spread throughout her system.

"I'm sorry," he said, reaching over her to pick up Connor. Wesley put Angel's son into a carrycot and picked up Caitlin. With both the children in his arms, Wesley took one last look at his home of two years and left.

On the floor, Neela rolled over and opened her eyes.

"Shit."

xxx

"Boss," said one of the Holtzians. "It's time."

Holtz picked up a crossbow and threw it to Justine. "Would you care to cause some mayhem?"

"Always."

xxx

Fred curled up next to Gunn, tiredness clouding her eyes. She was happier than she had been for a long time, Angel's twitchiness notwithstanding.

"Do you think I should call?" Angel was saying to Cordelia. "Check up on them?"

"Don't be crazy," Cordelia said. "Wesley and Neela are very responsible, sensible people."

"I've never heard Nee called 'sensible' before," Gunn said, playing idly with Fred's hair.

"She was acting pretty weird earlier," Fred said. "And so was Wesley, actually."

"Weirdness and Angel Investigations together? What are the odds?" Cordy said.

"Maybe I should call." Angel got up and started to walk to the office. He paused as he heard something. "What was that?"

"Ok, now you're really getting…" Cordelia trailed off as Holtz walked through the doors. He was surrounded by some of his followers. More came through the back doors. "Paranoid," she finished.

"Won't you come in?" Angel said.

xxx

"Sir, we've found her," said the man, kneeling in front of a tall figure, hooded and cloaked. "She has at least one of Angelus' children."

"Has she made any effort to contact the Elders?" the figure asked.

"None that we know of."

The figure turned to look at the selection of weapons on the table and picked up a small, ornate axe. The hood fell back.

"Perfect," John said.

xxx

Wesley strapped Connor into the car, next to his sister. He hoped he had everything he would need. Wesley shut the door and turned around, just to get hit in the face. Neela grabbed hold of him and rammed his head into the car door. Wesley gasped as Neela spun him around again to face her.

"Now, you wanna tell me what the hell is going on?" she said.

"I… I shot you," Wesley said, still a little dazed. Neela shoved him away.

"Yeah, you did." She lifted up her shirt to show some thick leather armour. "Takes a little more than a tranq dart to stop someone like me, Wes. What's with the road trip?"

"Neela, it's not-"

Neela slammed him back into the car. "Lie to me and you lose all your teeth."

"There's a prophecy, it says Angel's going to kill Connor," Wesley explained.

Neela looked at him incredulously. "That's what all this has been about? A prophecy? Most prophecies are bullshit, even you should know that much."

"But the blood-"

"That demon, Sahjhan, he's been playing us all for fools. I just can't find out why," Neela said. "Plus I haven't seen Doyle in days and I'm fairly certain the Clan are somewhere around. Things are going to hell in LA even faster than usual."

"The Clan? Who are they?"

"Old magic type guys, really have it in for Angel. I've no idea why, though," Neela said, just a little too fast. "But I think you're right. We need to get the twins outta town and now. Will you take them?"

"Won't you come?"

"Not a good idea, Wes. I'd just cause more trouble," Neela smiled slightly. "That seems to be all I do these days."

"Ah, finally she's admits it."

Neela spun around.

"What's the matter, little sister?" John said, stepping forward. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

Two more figures came forward to stand next to him. Both of them were tall and well-muscled, with cruel, hard faces.

"Wesley, get in the car and drive away," Neela ordered. He hesitated. "Now!"

"You really have changed, Neela," John said. "Thinking of others, for once?"

"You don't know the first thing about me," Neela said. "Wes, I told you to go."

"Not without you," he said.

"Excuse me," John said. "You, whoever the hell you are, can leave. Get the kids out of here, now. But you," he turned back to Neela.

Neela spun round, kicking John in the chest, as Wesley dived over to the driving seat and climbed in. Neela threw John into his companions. She jumped into the car as the men tried to get to their feet.

"Drive!" she yelled and Wesley slammed his foot onto the accelerator.

xxx

"So," Holtz said, falsely polite, looking around the foyer. "How are the little nippers?"

"They're doing well," Angel said, trying to see where all of the Holtzians were. "They're sleeping better."

Justine walked forward towards to the bassinet, peering inside. "Don't seem to be sleeping here, though," she said.

Holtz smiled. "Where are they?"

"You know, I met a friend of yours tonight. A demon called Sahjhan?" Angel said, ignoring Holtz's question. "I don't suppose you know why he hates me so much?"

"I really don't care," Holtz said. He looked around at his followers. "Try not to kill anyone."

Fred pulled a crossbow out from under the sofa and shot a Holtzian in the kneecap. Angel leapt at one of them, tossing him into the weapons' cabinet. Gunn leapt into the battle and Cordy grabbed the wooden baseball bat, using it to fend off two men. In all the confusion, no one noticed that Justine and Holtz had already slipped out of the hotel.

xxx

Wesley drove through the streets of LA, turning randomly. Neela sat next to him, clearly agitated.

"Who was that?" he asked finally.

"Trouble. Serious trouble," Neela replied vaguely. "Technically, he's my brother."

"Oh. What did he want?"

Neela turned around to check behind them. "I don't know," she said.

"I wasn't sensing that much brotherly love in between all the threats."

"Yeah, he seems to get a kick outta ruining my life. He probably came to try and take the twins," Neela said.

"So why did he tell me to leave with them?"

Neela ignored the question. "Turn left here."

Wesley did so. "Where are we going?"

"Back to the hotel. We need Angel. You have to tell him everything."

Wesley glanced at Neela but didn't protest. As he spun the steering wheel to make another turn, it suddenly spun back the other way. Wesley gasped and pulled his hands off the wheel a fraction of a second too late. Most of the skin was ripped off his palms.

"That's not good," Neela said. Wesley tried to brake the car but it just kept driving. "Really not good."

The car spun round and accelerated towards a solid brick wall. Wesley tried the door, no result, and Neela tried to smash the window. Her elbow just bounced off the glass.

The car slammed into the wall.

xxx

Angel slumped on the floor, surrounded by the chaos left by fighting the Holtzians. Gunn was helping Fred to her feet and Cordelia was lying on the sofa. A man had hit her with the butt of a crossbow. Angel had then thrown the man into the double doors, so that was all right, but Cordy was still out for the count.

"Can we go just one week without trashing the lobby?" Fred asked.

Gunn grinned at her. "And give Cordy no opportunities to lecture us on keeping the place neat an' tidy?" he said. "Besides, it was a good fight."

"So says the bruise on my head," Fred retorted.

"You know, maybe we chose a good night for the twins to stay somewhere else," Angel said, getting up again. "After all, things could've-" he stopped as a groan came from the office. "Did you hear that?"

Gunn and Angel shared looks and both found a weapon before going into the office. They found Lorne just about managing to stand up, clutching at the desk for support.

"Whoa, green jeans," Gunn said, hurrying forward to help Lorne. "They really got you good."

"They?" Lorne said, rubbing his head.

"Holtz's little minions."

Lorne looked at him. "They didn't do this to me. Wesley did."

"What?" Gunn said. Lorne opened his mouth to answer but didn't even get one word out before Cordelia woke up, screaming. Angel was by her side almost immediately.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's Neela," she said in between breaths. "She's been hurt, badly, and, god, she's so afraid."

"What about the twins?" Angel asked.

"What about Wesley?" Fred asked.

Cordy closed her eyes, trying to focus on the vision. "Uh, there's a car with the twins, Wes is there, so is…" She opened her eyes and stared at Angel, horrified. "So it Holtz. And he knew to be there."

"Wait, are you saying English tipped off Holtz?" Gunn said. "No way would he do that!"

"Before he hit me, I read him," Lorne butted in. "When he came to get Connor, he was humming and I read him. He's met secretly with Holtz at least once and when he left with Connor, he wasn't planning on coming back."

"Wes wouldn't do something like that," Fred cried. There was an uncomfortable silence and she started to talk again, almost as if she was thinking out loud. "And it wasn't Wesley's idea for him to take Connor. It was Neela's."

"Neela's been acting weird ever since she got here," Cordelia said.

"But we know it was Sahjhan who spiked the blood. Neela came here to protect the twins," Gunn said.

"We've only got her word for that," Cordelia said. "Who knows why she's really here?"

"Neela is a good person. She helps people!" Gunn yelled. "She would never do whatever the hell it is you're all suggesting!"

Cordelia and Lorne looked ready to keep arguing but Angel just walked to the weapons' cabinet and pulled out a broadsword. "Where are they?" he asked.

Cordy hesitated for just a moment before answering. "Nearby, maybe five blocks away off the main road."

"Angel, man, maybe you should-"

"Gunn, my children are out there. And if Wesley or Neela has done anything, _anything_ at all to harm them, they will pay. Are you with me or not?"

Gunn looked from Angel to the battered Lorne. "Yeah. I'm with you."

xxx

Neela pushed the car door open and climbed out, hugging her arm close to her side. Despite the way it was aching, she thought it wasn't broken. It was a pity she couldn't say the same about the car. She was relieved to hear both Connor and Caitlin crying.

"Hey, it's ok," she told the babies. "And I might be lying through my teeth, but you need never know that." The door refused to open from the outside, but Neela carefully broke the glass and reached inside for the release. "Right, so I get you two out and put you..." Neela looked around. "Put you somewhere, anyway, and then we get your Uncle Wes and go find your daddy." She picked up Connor, still strapped into the baby seat, and put him on the floor. "And if I'm really, really lucky, he might not tear my throat out." Caitlin was put next to her brother. Neela looked at the child and suddenly pulled out a small gold cross from around her neck. Neela pulled it off and fastened the chain around the girl's neck. She tucked the cross into Caitlin's clothes. "I hope it'll keep you safe, kid."

Neela spotted a metal bar half covered by rubble. There was something behind her, not human or vampire. She hesitated for just a second before grabbing the pipe and swinging it around.

It went right through the demon's head. Neela gasped and swung again.

"That's not going to get the job done, kid," the demon said.

"Forgive me for trying," Neela said. She didn't bother to try to hit the demon again, but she held onto the metal bar. A weapon was always of some comfort. "Sahjhan, right?"

"At your service," Sahjhan said, bowing. "Now, about taking the kids off your hands?"

"Not going to happen," Neela said. "They're going back to Angel."

"And not to your precious Clan?" Sahjhan shot back. "Can't wait to see Angel's face when he finds out why you're really here."

"Why don't you fill me in?" Angel said, walking towards the pair. Lorne, Gunn, Fred and Cordelia were behind him, all carrying weapons. Angel had a broadsword in his hands. "You know, Neela, for someone who claims to be here to fight demons, you seem to spend a lot of time socialising with them."

"Socialising?" Neela said. "I was trying to smash his head in!"

"Is this a private party or can anyone join?" said John, coming in from the side.

Neela rolled her eyes. "God, what are you doing here? Stalking me or something?" she said.

"You know this guy?" Angel said. Gunn had his crossbow pointed at John.

"He's my brother," Neela said.

"How welcoming," John said, smiling at Gunn. "He takes after you, Neela."

"Leave him alone," Neela snapped. "You wanna hurt me, hurt _me_. Leave all of them out of it!"

Angel was rapidly running out of patience. "Can we move this along a bit?"

"We're just waiting for a few more players," Sahjhan said. "This isn't really how I planned it going down, but it'll do."

Holtz and Justine came running towards the crash. "Sahjhan," said Holtz. "This wasn't part of the plan."

The demon shrugged. "Hey, I did my part. Not my fault your little lieutenant wasn't there to grab the car," Sahjhan said. "And who's that guy?" He gestured to John. "Is he one of yours?"

"I don't think so," Holtz said.

"Yeah, I'm not with any of you guys," John said.

"What the hell is going on here?" Angel yelled.

"I believe we have a, uh, a contest of wills," said Holtz. "A large, overblown scene in which several different factors come together to contend for the big prize."

"So what's the prize?" Gunn said.

"It's the children," Neela said. "That's what they all want. The kids."

Anyone watching from above would have seen the subtle movements in the group. There was almost a perfect triangle, with Angel and his friends at one corner, Holtz, Justine and Sahjhan at another and John at the last. Neela and the twins were bang in the middle.

Sahjhan raised one hand and the twins floated out from behind Neela. Holtz and Justine reached out and caught them even as Angel lunged for his children. Holtz jumped back, clamping his hand around Caitlin's neck.

"She'll be dead before I hit the ground," he said. Angel pulled himself back.

"Give me the girl, Captain Holtz," ordered John.

"Don't!" Neela cried. "Don't let him get her."

John looked at her coldly. "What? You want to hand another kid over the Clan?"

"You have no idea," Neela spat. "No idea-"

"Holtz, what are you waiting for?" Sahjhan said, ignoring John and Neela. "Kill the brats already!"

"New plan," Justine said. "We're leaving with the kids. Anyone tries to stop us, they die."

Holtz turned to Angel. "With me, they get to live." He didn't need to say the alternative.

Angel looked at his daughter and son. Only that morning, he had been tricked into nearly hurting them. And he just managed not to. This time. What would happen the next time?

"No! What is wrong with you people?" yelled Sahjhan. He raised both his hands.

"Stop him!" Neela screamed, diving for him. John aimed a kick at her face as Sahjhan started chanting.

"Lonekma, Lonekma, Sacfeo, Nonbeski!" he roared.

The air next to Holtz and Justine rippled and tore, exploding to form a blood red portal. The air whipped around the assembled people.

"What have you done?" Neela said. She could see things on the other side of the portal. It looked like hell.

"This is Quor'toth, darkest of the dark worlds," Sahjhan said. "Either you give the girl to me right now, or I widen the gap and you all go in." He smirked at Angel. "Your call."

Holtz looked from the portal to Angel to Sahjhan.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," muttered Sahjhan. "I hope you all enjoy Hell." He took a deep breath, ready to start chanting again.

Holtz moved so fast not even Angel would have been able to stop him. He grabbed Justine with his free hand and pulled her with him as he launched them both backwards, through the portal.

"No! No!" Angel yelled, running forward. Sahjhan snapped his fingers and Angel froze, held in place by a spell.

"Crazy English bastard," he said and clapped his hands twice and the portal closed, shrinking down to a pinpoint before going completely.

John's eyes were wide. "Granok," he whispered.

Neela's head shot up at the word.

"I think that went rather well," Sahjhan said. "Have a nice summer." The demon vanished.

"Oh my god," Angel said. "Connor. Caitlin. My kids." His knees gave way and he fell to the ground, shaking with grief. "My children are in Hell."

Neela was still on the ground. "How could you let him do that?" she whispered. John rolled his eyes.

"Sis, you aren't in any position to be taking the moral high ground here. Anyway, at least there the Clan can't reach her."

"She wasn't going to the Clan!" Neela clambered to her feet. "She was going to stay with Angel!"

"Neela, would you try to remember that you're the evil one here?" he shouted back.

"Evil?" Gunn said. "Nee, what the hell is going on?"

"Yeah, I think I'd like to know the answer to that too," Angel said, still fighting the spell that held him in place.

John watched as Neela looked around at her friends. Cordelia and Fred were both glaring at her, as was Angel. Gunn, on the other hand, just looked confused and Lorne looked sad.

"Yeah, _Nee_," John said finally. "Don't you want to tell everyone why you were sent here? How you were sent to take the twins away from Angel, not to save them or protect them? How you killed your first humans on your fifteenth birthday? Want to tell them about all the others innocents you killed just for fun? How you walk around with my sister's face when you're not even human? For god's sake, you don't even have a soul!"

Gunn's expression went from confused to horrified.

"What?" he said. "Nee?"

"Oh my god," whispered Cordelia. Fred's look of horror almost matched Gunn's.

Neela stared around as the people she had come to trust started to back away from her.

"Sing," Angel ordered.

Neela looked at him. "What-"

"Sing, dammit!" he shouted.

Neela glanced at Lorne, understanding what Angel meant. For a moment, it looked like she was going to refuse. Then she sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "No point," she said quietly. "It's true. I'm really not on your side. I never could be, not without the shiny soul I kinda lack. Not everyone is as lucky as you, Angel."

"Were you sent here to take Connor and Caitlin away?" Lorne said.

"Just Caitlin. My, uh, my employers don't care much about Connor." It was said so quietly. "I didn't exactly want it to happen."

"Kinda hard to protect the twins from yourself, though," Fred said.

"Believe me, if I was going to take Caitlin, I would've just staked Angel and taken her," Neela snapped.

"But how can we believe anything you say now?" Gunn said.

"You can't. And you shouldn't," John said. "Jo'Nekra always lies."

"What does that mean, 'Jo'Nekra'?" Fred asked.

"It's the demon," he said softly. "The demon that controls that body. It destroyed the human soul."

Gunn turned away, still trying to understand what they were all saying. Neela came forward and put a hand on his shoulder but he just pulled away.

John slunk off. There would be plenty of time for him to complete the final part of his mission. But, here, now, she looked too human. Too like Erin.

"We trusted you." Angel felt the spell end and stood up again. "We trusted you and you stabbed us in the back. Get out of this town or you won't live to see dawn."

Silently, Neela looked at Gunn. Waiting for his judgement.

"Go," he said. "Just go."

Neela opened her mouth, but closed it again. She turned and started to walk away. She had to go past the others, and all of them turned away. Only Lorne would meet her gaze and he just stood back to let her pass. At the last moment, Neela turned back.

"Wesley's in the car. I think he's ok," she said. "It was my idea for him to talk to Holtz, so please don't blame him. He was just... just trying to do the right thing. Whatever that was." She started walking again.

When Neela had left, Angel's composure shattered. He fell to his knees again, sobbing. Cordy ran to him and threw her arms around him, rocking him as he wept. Gunn watched them, his arms wrapped around Fred. Lorne just stood there.

Neela leant against a wall several streets away and, very softly, started to cry.

Angel clung to Cordelia, his heart broken. She held him, just letting him know she was there.

Gunn felt the tears pricking at his eyes.

Fred hid her face in Gunn's shirt.

Lorne looked at the car wreck, his weeping friends, the place where the portal had been.

A pair of lost children.

A broken family.

Shattered friendships.

xxx

_Please leave a comment or two..._


	9. Chapter 9

Romania,

Ten Years Ago

Erin was sparring with two of the gypsy boys, joking with them in her clumsy Romanian. Paul watched as she knocked both of them down and then helped them up. She was laughing at the looks on their faces. He hadn't seen her act like that in a long time. And now he had to ruin it for her. He really hated his life sometimes.

"Erin," he called.

She excused herself from the two boys and came over, shoving her red hair behind her ear. She was still Erin at this point, the name that his brother had chosen for his young daughter before his wife was murdered and turned by a vampire on the orders of the Clan and he left to find her. Neela was just the name the Clan had given her, after they had destroyed her.

"Uncle?" she said. "What's wrong?"

He forced a smile. "Who says anything's wrong?"

"I do, because you're smiling at me when I haven't killed anything," Erin said. "Is it anything to do with those guys?" She looked over Paul's shoulder at the two men standing outside one of the caravans. They had arrived late last night and Erin had a weird feeling about them.

"Sort of. They're just asking a few too many questions about you," he lied. He knew exactly who the men were, or rather who they worked for, which was more important.

"So, we, what, kick them all the way back home?"

"No. Just avoid them till I get back."

"You're going somewhere?" Erin said, looking worried.

"There's some talk of vampires in the hills and we all know how well vampires with gypsies ends," Paul said, making Erin smile. "I'll be back soon. Steer clear of trouble."

Erin rolled her eyes. "I can deal with demons from hell but not a couple of humans?"

"People can hurt you more than any demon, Erin," Paul reminded her sternly.

"I know. You've told me often enough. Mostly just when I've managed to make a halfway decent friend," she snapped.

"Look, you have no idea what these guys could do to you, so just... just play it safe. Just for now."

"Ok, I will, Uncle," Erin promised. "Just until you get back."

He smiled at her and went to get his weapons and equipment together. As he passed the Clan men, he stared at them, trying to pour all his hatred into one look. They returned the glare coolly, not fazed at all. They didn't need to be liked to do their job. One of them watched Paul as he entered his tent, the other was watching Erin.

"Is the vampire close?" one of them said. The other nodded.

"And baying for Paul's blood. Don't worry. The girl will be ours by the end of the week."

xxx

Angel was sitting in his room, eyes fixed on the empty cradle. He wasn't crying, but only because he had run out of tears. He had barely spoken since his children had been dragged into Hell.

Cordelia sat in a chair close by. There was nothing she could say, so she just sat there, being there for Angel. There was a book in her hands, but she hadn't turned the page in over an hour. Cordelia's gaze was constantly dragged back to the cradle.

"I think Connor was going to be a leftie," Angel said, almost at random. "With his left hand, he held your fingers just a little tighter." He was still staring at the empty cradle. "Caitlin was right-handed, though. I'm sure of it."

"We'll get them back, Angel," Cordy said. "Wesley is already working on getting a portal open."

The Englishman had been quiet ever since he had been told what had happened. Apart from a few comments about the best books for portal spells, he had been as silent as everyone else.

Wesley sat at his desk, searching through books for any mention of Quor'toth. There was nothing so far, but he wasn't going to give up. It was useless though; with only half his thoughts focused on the task, success was going to be almost unobtainable.

His main problem was that Angel wasn't angry with him. Admittedly, the vampire had become almost catatonic since his children had been taken, but it was still strange. Apparently he had been more than angry with Neela.

And there lay the root of his confusion. Neela had lied for him and taken all the blame, when she already had a fairly large amount of it already. Lied for him at a time when Angel would have been dangerously close to attacking her, and saved his relationships with his friends. And he had no idea why.

xxx

Gunn and Fred sat in their favourite diner, full plates in front of them. Not even Fred was hungry, for once. Gunn's eyes were still red-rimmed, the result of a night spent crying in Fred's arms, her own tears joining his own.

"I can't believe it," he said. "The twins gone, and Neela's a… what is she?" He looked at Fred, wishing she could give him an answer.

"I don't know," she said, taking hold of his hand. "But it didn't sound good."

"Killing humans for fun," Gunn said. "I just… I can't connect that kinda thing with her. I can't believe it. How can she not have a soul? She helped us."

"She said it was true," Fred said. "And we never knew that much about her."

"I trusted her so much when she fought with the gang." Gunn shook his head. "And now it's all changed. It's like it's all fallen apart. You know?"

"And a portal. Angel would've gotten the twins back from anywhere, done anything," Fred sighed, squeezing Gunn's hand for comfort. "But how can he get through a portal that isn't there anymore?"

"English will find a way. He's a smart guy. God, I know it's stupid to be stressing over what Neela's done right now, but I can't get it out of my mind!" Gunn suddenly exploded.

"No, it isn't. You trusted her, have done for years. We'd all be acting exactly the same way if it had been Wesley or me or Cordy," Fred reassured him.

"Maybe I should go and talk to her," he suggested.

"No, Gunn! She's too dangerous. She might kill you." Fred squeezed his hand. "I want you to promise me you won't go near her. It's too dangerous."

"Ok, I won't," Gunn promised, squeezing her hand in return.

xxx

"What, exactly, are you trying to say?" Linwood asked, his voice just a touch too calm.

Lilah resisted the urge to either shrug or smack Gavin around the back of the head. "The demon Sahjhan opened a portal to Quor'toth," she reiterated. "Holtz and a certain Justine Cooper took both of the vampire's offspring through the portal. Neela was revealed as a Hunter to Angel by her own brother."

"Didn't we have him killed?"

"We tried," Gavin said. "Our operatives were teleported back to us in a bucket."

"Nice boy," Linwood said. "You could learn from him, Lilah. He gets results."

Lilah bristled at the insult, but forced herself not to say anything. Not until he was quite finished.

"I read a very interesting report just before you came to me," Linwood continued. "It seems that Sahjhan, that demon who so helpfully disposed of the children we were after, came to see you last night. He admitted to wanting Angel dead and you offered him information, but somehow I seem to have misplaced your report on that little encounter."

Damn it, she'd forgotten about that. But you didn't last this long with Wolfram and Hart without learning to think on your feet. "The information was a necessary step in forming a stable and easily manipulated relationship with the demon." Unable to resist, she added, "I planned to tell you personally as soon as possible, but I was told you were unable," with a pointed glance at Gavin, who had been monopolising their boss' time with pointless reports of the minor dealings of low-level chaos dealers.

"It was certainly an... inventive alliance," Gavin replied.

Lilah was slightly impressed. A subtle hint that this was her personal deal with the devil, most likely designed to remind Linwood of how much he disliked anything to do with her. She would've thought that even that was beyond Gavin's highly limited abilities.

"Sahjhan is a Granok. Unless we gain a new Senior Partner or one of the Old Ones' escape plans works, he could be the most powerful ally we can get," she said. "Our first task is to gain any advantage over our enemies that we can."

Linwood's lips thinned. "I expect a full report on this demon and its involvement with the disappearance of the vampire's children on my desk by tomorrow morning."

"Of course," Lilah replied and left the office respectfully. The respect only lasted until the door clicked shut behind her. Answering to such a pathetic, frightened _worm_ infuriated her. No courage, intelligence or taste and yet he was supposedly better than her. Well, that was going to change. She had saved her own neck last year with the help of Lindsey and a lot of secret folders. Lindsey was long gone, but dodgy dealings lasted forever.

But this time she wasn't trying to _save _anyone's neck.

xxx  
In the car park under the apartment block, Neela went straight to a blue van parked in one corner. In it was most of her stuff and she added the box she was holding. There were only a few more items to be added and she would be ready to go. Neela could easily be out of LA by nightfall. She locked the van again and started to walk back to the stairs.

"Hey, Gunn," she said as she passed a patch of shadow.

Gunn came forward into the light. "How did you know I was there?"

"Just did," Neela said, shrugging.

"That must be a pretty useful skill for someone in your line of work," he said.

"Why are you here, Charlie boy? To talk or to fight?" she demanded, turning to face him.

"I want answers, Neela."

"Really? And what makes you think that you're going to get any?"

"I trusted you with my life, with my gang's life."

"Yeah, I know. I was there," Neela interrupted. "And every goddamn day I wanted to rip your throat out"

"So why didn't you?"

"It would've been too easy. Wouldn't have made enough of an impression," she said. It was easy to let Jo'Nekra supply the words to say right now. What she wanted to do was tell Gunn everything and beg for forgiveness. But she couldn't. So she let the hate and wrath of a demon spill out on her tongue and destroy a friendship she had fought so hard for. "The demon took me when I was fifteen, Charlie. Wasn't much of the human let in me after that, but you, you brought out the best in me, I suppose. Helped me learn how to pass for something I wasn't. You've no idea how useful that was."

Gunn's face was disgusted, horrified and angry.

"I did enjoy our time together," she continued. "It was so satisfying to know that I could trick a vampire hunter into believing I was a warrior for good. Not that it was too hard. You were always were a little bit dim."

"What the hell are you?"

"Me? I'm a Hunter. Stronger than a vampire, much more intelligent, and I keep the world of evil spinning on its axis. All it takes is one human girl to give as a vessel to the bad guys." Neela turned to walk away. "And if you're still standing there when I come back, you'll find out just how much damage one Hunter can do to a scrawny little human."

To make her point, Neela casually slammed her hand into a concrete pillar as she was passing it. Part of it shattered, spilling fragments and dust all over the floor. Normally her serum reduced her physical strength, but Neela hadn't taken any in a while. Being able to fight well was too important at the moment and well worth trading a little control for. Glancing over her shoulder, she was pleased to see Gunn staring at her, face pale. Neela walked away, a grim smile on her face.

When she was sure she was out of sight, Neela let the smile fade. What she had said was true: Jo'Nekra had had full control the last time she arrived in LA. The demon had used the gang to learn how to hide what it was so it could do more damage, hurt more humans. But when Neela had returned to LA and Gunn had greeted her as a friend, an ally, someone he cared about and trusted even after all those years...

In her room, Neela grabbed a rucksack, opening it to pack her last things in. She found the serum hidden under the mattress and carefully packed it away. The mattress wasn't worth taking, but the photo next to it made her pause. The picture had been taken on Cordy's birthday, when she had woken up from her magical coma. Neela looked at it, at the twins and her own smiling face. Gunn, Fred, Wesley, she would miss all of them. But it was better this way. There was no need for them to be dragged into her world.

Half-disgusted with herself, Neela dropped the photo back onto the table. She had been an idiot to think the situation in LA could ever last. The Clan would never let her get away that easily. They had existed for thousands of years across various dimensions and acted as a less subtle version of Wolfram and Hart. The only reason she'd managed to get away with any of this for so long was that the Clan tended to avoid the New World, conceding it to their sort of allies, Wolfram and Hart.

The photo would just be a sour reminder of what she had lost. Neela took one last look around the apartment, to make sure nothing was left that she needed. All of the furniture was staying, as was the punch bag. She snapped off the lights and was ready to leave.

The photo was still on the table.

She hesitated. This was a weakness, she knew, and one that could easily be exploited by the Clan. It had already been exploited by John. She had tried to be human and it just didn't work for her.

Neela kicked the table over, sending the photo flying, and slammed out of the room.

It was easier to be angry than to care.

xxx

John sat on the rooftop, watching Neela's apartment block. The axe in his hands was more ceremonial than anything else, but it was still sharp enough to chop through bone if necessary.

The little scene he had caused earlier was still fresh in him mind. It had had very good results and John knew she would soon leave LA, which made his job much easier. But he couldn't get the look Neela had had on her face out of his mind. The memory of it was dredging up much older memories, ones he couldn't afford to deal with now. She had looked so much like the sister he had known and loved. But it wasn't her. That demon the Clan had put in her was controlling her, torturing her soul and spirit.

He was doing the right thing. He was sure of it. He had to set her free. John shifted position slightly. He would do his job. It was almost all he had now.

"Goodbye, little sister," he whispered.

xxx

As the sun set over LA, the mood in the Hyperion darkened. Gunn had come back in a furious mood and had grudgingly agreed to help Fred with a case. Lorne had spent the day packing up the twins' toys and belongings from the office and lobby. It was too painful for any of them to see the cuddly toys that Connor and Caitlin had loved. Now he just sat quietly, a sea breeze in one hand.

In his rooms, Angel was still sitting, unmoving, staring at the cradle as he struggled to come to grips with what had happened. Cordelia had fallen asleep in her chair, emotionally exhausted.

Wesley was still ploughing through book after book, searching for anything that might help. Keeping busy was all he could do now, and the only way he could help Angel. Wesley hated seeing his friend so broken, and hated himself for having any part in causing it.

He looked up as Lorne came in, a sea breeze in his hands. The green demon still had a bruise on his forehead from Wesley's attack.

"Um, I'm sorry for hitting you," Wesley said. "Things were a bit... confused then."

"I know," Lorne replied evenly. "And I'm not worried about what you did. But I know Neela didn't tell you to go and see Holtz."

Wesley stared at him. "I didn't ask her to lie for me," he said eventually. "And I don't know why I went to Holtz."

"Again, not my concern."

"So what is your concern?"

"Neela. That kid needs help, and she's not going to get it at this rate." Lorne rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. "I've never managed to actually read Neela, but if she's going back to the Clan after deliberately disobeying them? Not going to end well."

"You've heard of the Clan? Why didn't you say something?"

"It wasn't my tale to tell. Neela loved those kids. I don't need to read her to see that. And you don't have to have a soul to be able to care about someone, however unreal that care may be, it still counts. If Angel was calmer, he'd be able to see that. But the Clan is bad news, Wolfram and Hart kind of bad, and Neela doesn't strike me as a person who can work with them. The Clan has no use for someone they can't control."

"What will they do to her?"

"I don't know," Lorne said. "But if you don't want to find out, you'd better find Neela first."

xxx

Romania,

Ten Years Ago

Erin ran through the woods, her jacket catching on branches as she pushed past trees and bushes.

"Uncle!" she screamed. "Uncle Paul!"

There was no answer and Erin made aching legs move faster. She had already lost too many people. She was not going to lose Paul.

"Uncle!" she called again, praying for an answer, any answer.

Erin tripped over something on the ground. She automatically twisted as she fell, to land on her back. Her eyes widened as she saw what she had tripped over.

Paul was lying on the ground, his clothes soaked in blood. There were two small holes in his neck. It wasn't clear whether he had been killed by a vampire or from the wooden stake that had been forced into his stomach. His eyes were wide open and staring right at Erin.

She wanted to scream or shout, or cry even, but Erin found she couldn't move. Then a wolf howled somewhere in the distance and Erin flinched. Her eyes filled with tears as she forced herself to stand and walk to the sad, beaten shell of her uncle. Erin reached out and touched his cold face. He had been dead for hours.

"Uncle," she whispered. "What am I meant to do now?"

Paul, trapped in Death's embrace, could offer her no answer. Erin looked at the teeth marks on his neck. When the sun set, there was every possibility that Paul would rise.

She leant forward and kissed his forehead, at the same time pulling the stake out of him. "Goodbye, Uncle," she said. "Take care."

Erin managed, somehow, to gather wood for the pyre. She stacked it high, making a bed of sorts for Paul's body. When the pyre was finished, Erin gently laid Paul's hands on his chest. She then slipped one hand into his pocket, pulling out a silver lighter. Erin flicked it open and took a branch in one hand. She lit the branch, letting the flame grow before snapping the lighter shut.

"I don't know what to do," Erin said to the body. "But I'll figure it out. Somehow." She thrust the lit branch into the pyre.

xxx

Neela sat in Thanatos Misthos, alone in a corner. For the first time since she had first come here, there was no drink in front of her, only her battered mobile phone.

Mark watched her from the bar, worried. This quiet woman wasn't the Neela he knew. Even the other bounty hunters were leaving her alone. Normally, they would be joking with her, teasing her for her obvious femininity and strange sense of humour, but everyone had heard what had happened.

Finally, Neela picked up the mobile phone and dialled a now-familiar number.

"Can we talk?" she asked.

xxx

Romania,

Ten Years Ago

Erin stood in front of the burning pyre. She had the bloodstained stake in one hand and Paul's lighter in the other.

"Did you know this would happen?" she asked the two men standing behind her as she put the lighter into her pocket. "Did you have any part in this?"

"We suspected this might be the outcome," one said. "But we had nothing to do with it."

"There was no need for us to get involved," the other said. "Paul was stupid enough to get himself killed."

Erin spun round, grabbing the man that had spoken and bringing him down to the ground. The man found himself with Erin on top of him and a stake pressing into his heart.

"How dare you even think his name," she hissed, pressing harder with the stake. "He was worth a thousand of you."

The first man pulled Erin off his friend. "Tekma's not a vampire, Neela," he said.

"You'd be surprised how many things that'll kill," Erin retorted. "Why are you calling me 'Neela'?" She had heard the name before, and knew enough to know that if these men were using it, they couldn't mean her any good.

"My name is Pachra, and Tekma and I are here to grant you the greatest honour that a child of the Clan can ever receive. You are to take up a battle lasting for millennia as a Hunter-"

"Knock that off," Erin said. "You're talking gibberish."

"You wouldn't understand, anyway, kid."

The two men leapt on Erin, forcing the young girl to the ground. Erin twisted and kicked, but she was a fourteen year old against two fully grown men. Tekma held her down as Pachra fetched an iron brand from where he had hidden it in the woods. He walked to the still burning pyre and carefully laid the brand to heat. Erin was still struggling and Tekma grabbed her head by the hair and slammed it back into the ground.

"Now, little Neela," Pachra said. "There's no need to be scared. This is a great honour." He pulled the glowing brand out of the fire. "Hold still. This will only hurt a lot."

Erin screamed.

xxx

Wesley entered Thanatos Misthos, looking around for Neela. He found her immediately, sitting alone at a small table.

She looked up as he approached. "No weapons?" she asked.

"I don't need them. I trust you."

"You're in a minority on that, Wes."

"That's a pity. Why did you lie to Angel?"

Neela shrugged. "I lie to everyone. You should know that by now."

"No, I meant, why did you lie for me? You never told me to see Holtz."

"Angel was so angry and hurt. I didn't want him to do something to you that he'd regret," Neela said. "There's no point in both of us being driven out."

"You're really just going to go?" he asked.

"There's not much for me in LA anymore."

"What about John? The guy might be your brother but he doesn't seem to like you much. What will he do to you when he finds you? What are you going to do about him?"

"There's not much I can do about him. The guys in LA will send him in the wrong direction. Maybe I'll get away."

Wesley asked the one question he had no idea about the answer for. "What are you?"

Neela sighed, staring into her drink. "It's complicated."

"I've got time."

There was a long pause before Neela started to speak again. "There was a girl, called Erin O'Neil. When she was born, those old magic, end-of-the-world type guys called the Clan identified her as the next vessel for their line of demonic possession. They're trying to bring forth the Old Ones, but they haven't quite managed it yet. When Erin was fifteen, they rammed some ancient Granok demon down her throat. The demon killed her, destroyed her soul. Animated the body afterwards and used to do things that humans don't have words for. A few years ago, it was sent by the Clan to kill a powerful Irish mage. The mage's son, Liam, took offence at that and bound the demon, using a piece of himself to strengthen the magics. And I was created."

"Liam created a soul?"

"That's the nub, isn't it?" she asked softly. "No, Wes. No soul. Just a combination of higher brain functions, human and demon memories and his emotions. I have no soul, no desire to do what's right. But I feel for people. I occasionally do what's right, although more by mistake than by design. Honestly? On the average day, it's about fifty-fifty whether I do the right thing or kill an innocent. Most of the time I can't even tell the difference. Some days I don't even care."

Wesley frowned. "But you've worked with us, _helped_ us-"

"Wes, I cannot distinguish between good and evil. Do you understand that?"

"I don't believe it!" he yelled.

Neela was taken aback. She couldn't remember the last time Wesley had raised his voice. "It was you and Gunn and all the gang," she admitted. "You treated me like I... like I could really be good. Like I was something I wasn't."

"You want to have a soul," Wesley realised. "You want to be good."

"What I want is irrelevant, Wes. I should not exist. In a few weeks, I won't exist."

"What do you mean?"

Neela at least managed to look him straight in the eye. "Liam sends me a mystic serum to prolong my existence. He estimates I've got about a month before it stops working. It stops working, I stop existing and the demon reasserts its control."

"Surely there is something else you can do?"

"There's nothing. I have no right to exist. No right to this body and no right for you to think I'm a good person." Neela stood up, shoving her hair out of her eyes.

Wesley stood as well, blocking her route to the door. "What changed, Neela? What made you give up?"

"Say I was meant to have a soul," she replied. "Say I was meant to be a good person. Do you think if that was true, I'd be able to stake the closest things I had to parents and willingly plan to take Caitlin from a father that loved her?"

"You were scared. He'll understand."

"You cannot save me!" Neela snapped. "Now get the hell out of my way."

xxx

Romania,

Ten Years Ago

The girl who had been known as Erin stood in the clearing. Many of the trees around her were charred and burnt. Her face was twisted and her hair was streaked with black. The green had left her eyes, replaced by grey.

The demon was already spreading through her body, claiming it for its own. Erin was terrified. She had no idea what was happening to her, but she gritted her teeth and fought harder than she ever had before. She fought for every inch of her body and soul, screaming silently for someone, anyone to help.

Pachra and Tekma backed away as Erin screamed out loud, falling to her knees.

Erin focused on the grass between her fingers, then forced her head up to look at the two men.

"Gonna pay for that, you bastards." Erin managed to chuckle, even as her sight began to fuzz over. Shadows were moving on her face.

"A real Hunter," Tekma whispered. "Reborn to kill us all."

Eyes a dull grey, the girl stood, examining one hand. "This will do." She looked up at them and smiled, stepping forward.

The screams of the two men echoed around the clearing.

xxx

Angel slowly stood up and walked forward to the cradle. He touched the soft blankets. Cordy watched him from her chair, feeling his grief.

_But not everything is lost forever. Things can be found. Hearts can be healed. _

Wesley sat down at his desk and pulled one of the books back towards him. He looked at the picture propped up on the desk top, the one taken on Cordy's birthday.

He looked up and saw Lorne watching him. The green skinned demon was asking him a question with his eyes, and Wesley shook his head in reply.

The twins were gone. Neela was gone. And he had no idea of how to get any of them back.

_But some wounds run too deep,_

Neela climbed into the driver's seat and started up the van. She didn't even know where she was going. She didn't really care.

_Some words can never be forgotten. _

Gunn looked around the empty apartment. There was no sign that anyone had been living here just yesterday. Fred came in and slipped her arm in his, leading him out of the empty room.

_And some debts have to be settled._

John kicked the bike into life and roared out of LA. His orders from the Clan were very simple: to make sure the Hunter would no longer be a problem for them. But he had his own agenda. That thing had killed his sister and walked around pretending to be her.

It wouldn't be able to for much longer.

xxx

_Please review... _


	10. Chapter 10

Neela had spent a week driving in whichever direction seemed best at the time. There were less logical ways to travel, she was certain. She just couldn't think of them at the moment Thanks to Mark and Emil back in LA, she had managed to avoid John at least a dozen times.

The blue van was currently parked outside another demon bar. Neela didn't even know the name of this one and she didn't much care. She didn't care about much any more. This place was in Sunnydale, she knew that much, which could be useful. Surely people living on a Hellmouth would have some knowledge of how to get to Quor'toth. Quor'toth might even be an improvement. But in case no one did, she might as well make an impression. A couple of dead demons would be a good place to start.

The bar was similar to any other demon bar. The music was loud, the drinks were simple and strong and humans were rare. Served rare, that is. In LA, where most of the demons had known her by reputation at least, Neela had never had any problems getting into places like this. In Sunnydale, she had to fight her way in, literally.

Leaving the doorman with a headache and a nice selection of bruises, Neela made her way to the bar. She ordered whisky and leant against the wooden counter, watching the room. There were plenty of demons, but none of the vamps looked over fifty years dead. Neela doubted even one in there that had been sired before the 1930s. The demons looked more hunted here than the other places she had been. She supposed that was the effect of Sunnydale having its very own Slayer.

The whisky, when it came, wasn't the greatest Neela had ever had. Liam would scoff at the idea of this even being whisky, but she had learnt to take what there was and pray it made her drunk. Neela swallowed it down in one and gestured for another. A part of her had missed this life.

But getting drunk wouldn't solve any of her many problems. Well, not any of the important ones. Neela threw back the new glassful and paid before the bar-demon could refill her glass again. She made her way through the crowded room to the back of the bar, where a small demon lounged innocently next to a door.

"What's the game?" Neela asked.

"Poker," replied the demon, speaking easily despite having three rows of teeth. He looked her up and down, taking in her very human appearance.

"Mind if I go in?"

"Go ahead, _human_," spat the demon. "Pathetic little kid."

Neela grabbed the demon and slammed him into the wall. "You talking to me?" she asked, raising one eyebrow. The demon shook his head and Neela reluctantly let him go. "Good."

She walked into the back room. Two demons and two vampires sat around a small table, a bowl full of mewling kittens in the middle. Kitten poker, one of the most ridiculous demon sports. One of the vampires was looking at Neela strangely, probably trying to figure out what she was. He seemed older than all the other vampires, dressed mostly in black with bleached hair. The other looked stuck in the '80s. Neela didn't know the precise demon breeds, but their teeth screamed 'meat eater.'

"Evening, boys," she said, smiling at them. "Who's winning?"

"What do you want, human?" one of them asked.

"Just to talk," Neela said, holding up her empty hands. "I'm new in town, need some information."

"We don't help strangers for free," another said.

"I'll pay. Just not in kittens, ok?"

"Fine. How do you feel about blood?" the '80s vamp said. The demons stood up, licking their lips, but the older vamp stayed where he was.

"Just to give you fair warning, I'm not human," she said, grinning.

Neela backed up slightly, until she was standing next to a crate of beer. She grabbed two bottles and as one of the demons jumped her, Neela smashed them against its head, holding onto the broken bottles and stabbing them into the second demon. She kicked the first demon in the head, just to be sure, and pulled out her pistol, aiming at the vampire.

"That won't kill me, human," he said, his face morphing into his game face.

Neela fired, hitting him in his heart. The vampire gasped in pain, falling to his knees and curling up.

The last vampire stood up and started to catch the kittens, packing them into a pet basket.

"Nice," he said, nodding to the pistol. "What's in the bullets?"

"Silver, garlic core, dipped in holy water and blessed by a friendly local parish priest. Or maybe the Pope," Neela said. "Doesn't kill vamps but certainly hurts." She stepped over the twitching vampire. "Why didn't you attack me?" She picked up another bottle of beer and opened it, swigging some down.

"Someone had to keep an eye on the currency," was the reply. "Got a name, pet?"

"Neela. You?"

"Spike."

Neela spat out a mouthful of beer. "_The_ Spike? Bloody hell!"

Spike grinned. "At your service. What do you want to know?"

"Hang on. Spike is meant to be all badass and shit. How come you're not kicking my ass?"

"Got a chip, love," Spike told her. "Courtesy of the American government. I can't hurt any humans. Although, apparently that won't apply to you."

"The government put a chip to stop William the Bloody eating people?" She couldn't help but grin. "That's kind of cute."

"It's not cute! It's bloody annoying!"

"Well, that too."

"Anyway, you said you needed information?"

"Yeah. What's the Slayer like?"

"What, are you going to challenge her, or something?"

"Uh, no way, mate. I may be suicidal, but not that suicidal. Would the Slayer have any problem with me fighting on her turf?"

"If you're fighting demons, course not. You hurt a human, though…"

"Figures. Is there much to kill in Sunnydale?" she asked, pulling a silver lighter and a battered cigarette packet out of her pocket. She offered one to Spike, who waved it aside, before lighting up.

"Those will kill you, you know," the vampire said.

Neela stared at him. "Thanks for the concern. If I live long enough for lung cancer to be an issue, remind me again." She took a drag of the cigarette.

"What are you?" Spike asked.

"What kind of question is that to ask someone?"

"A fairly sensible one, love."

"Well, I'm not your 'love'." She dropped the half-smoked cigarette and ground it with the heel of her boot. With a last nod to Spike, Neela left, leaving him alone in the backroom with a basket of free kittens. He looked around at the battered remains of his poker game. The girl could certainly fight, he'd give her that much. Maybe he should mention this to Buffy and the others. Maybe.

xxx

Liam came out of the airport, enjoying the bright sunshine. It put England's sunniest afternoon to shame. He squinted slightly and started walking. Neela had never been a low-profile girl. It shouldn't be too hard to find her.

xxx

Neela walked through the streets of Sunnydale, keeping her eyes and ears open. She refused to believe that a town with its own Hellmouth would ever run out of demons. The Slayer probably patrolled the graveyards, so Neela was sticking to the back alleys and side streets at the centre of town. It wasn't long before she came across a demon harassing a young couple.

"Please, we'll give you money," the man was saying, one arm around the woman and both of them were backing away. "There's no need for any violence."

"Oh, I don't know," Neela said, walking up. "It's kinda fun."

She pivoted and snapped one leg up to smash into the demon's gut. It roared as it staggered back. Neela crouched low, ready to fight, and realised the couple were still standing there.

"Oh, for- Look, you can go now," she told them.

Behind her, the demon shook itself and charged at Neela. She sidestepped at the last moment and it ran itself into the wall. The demon stood up and charged again, barrelling her over. Neela rolled away from a stamping foot and swung a leg into the demon's side before slipping back onto her feet. The demon howled in pain and stampeded at her yet again. This time, Neela grabbed its arm, twisted round and broke the bones. As it fell to its knees, Neela darted forward and snapped its neck. The humans were pressed against the walls, staring at her with wide eyes. Neela looked at them, waiting for the inevitable question.

"What… What was that?" said the woman.

"You don't want to know," Neela said. "Stay out of dark alleys, ok?"

"We can go?"

Neela rolled her eyes. People could be so dense. "Yes, you can go. In fact, you should go. Now."

The couple finally sprinted for it.

"You're welcome," Neela called after them.

"So much for common courtesy," said a man behind her.

Neela recognised the voice and spun round, smiling properly for the first time in weeks. "Liam! What are you doing here?"

He was standing a little way away, hands in his pockets. "I figured you'd be getting into some sort of trouble..."

"No fair, Liam."

"Since when is life fair? Anyway, I take it the situation in LA blew up in your face."

"Yeah. John showed up, some demon sent the twins to hell and now I think I've made it clear that I'm rogue and I think the Clan's trying to kill me. How are you?"

"Compared to you, I'm bloody fantastic. Although that demon sent ripples through the fabric of the dimensional walls that people could feel in South Africa. It nearly blew the coven into next week. Wasn't healthy. What about Angel?"

"Threw me out of town when John told him about my lack-of-soul situation."

Liam whistled in amazement. "Gotta love the bloodsucker. Guy lives for two hundred and fifty years, spends about half of that being the evilest son of a bitch you could ever hope not to meet, and still has the arrogance to take the moral high ground."

"He had a right to. I should've told him, Liam."

"Well, you didn't. So what's the new plan? I mean, you won't go back to the Clan again, will you?"

"No. I just want to get Angel's kids back from hell and then find somewhere where I can be kept safe and non homicidal."

"Want some help?"

xxx

Liam had left the coven, which had now moved to Devon of all places, in the hands of someone called Giles, which meant that Liam was probably planning to stick around. Neither of them had talked about it, but both of them knew that, for the moment, neither of them was going to leave. And, just as clearly, they both knew it would never last.

Neela was sleeping in her van. It was risky, as it didn't technically count as a home to vampires, but she had rigged up a couple of spells with Liam's help. In contrast, Liam was renting a nice apartment at some exorbitant price.

When he hammered on the van door one morning, Neela could only have been asleep for a couple of hours at best. She sat up, rubbing her eyes, as Liam sat down opposite to her.

"Liam, I'm nocturnal. A creature of the night. It's two a.m. for me," Neela told him.

"Well, my little creature of the night, John O'Neil is getting closer. We have to move," Liam snapped.

"What 'we'?" Neela said. "You're no part in this."

"Bull."

"I won't let another innocent get hurt here, understood? The Clan know nothing about you and it would be really good if it stayed that way. Especially with your unique connections."

"I am not letting you go off and get hurt again!" Liam yelled. "I'm not going back until you're safe. I won't let the Clan get close to you again."

From anyone else, the statement wouldn't have managed to convince Neela for a second. From Liam, her creator in a way, it was as real to Neela as two and two making four.

"How can we stop them? They're a part of me. I'm a part of them," Neela said. "And there's John. I don't think I can fight him."

"Why not?" Liam asked. "He's not-"

"I know he's not really my brother. He's Erin's brother. But I don't want to kill him."

"Neela, you don't have to fight him. We can leave, now. Let Angelus deal with his own problems. I can find a way to protect you from them, I promise."

"I can't leave Connor and Caitlin in hell. They don't deserve that."

Liam groaned. He knew she was right and he wanted to help the poor kids as much as she did, if he just thought about it for a moment. "If only we knew what you're meant to do."

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm a fighter, not a messenger."

Liam suddenly grinned. "Neela, you're a bloody _genius_."

xxx

"Ok, this is silly," Neela said. "I know that the Oracles in LA were under a post office. But here? It's so cliché."

They were standing in a graveyard. Liam sighed.

"No, there's a vampire living here. He should know where the Oracles are. So don't stake him, all right?"

"Great. Now I need to get directions from a vampire," Neela muttered, following Liam. "Isn't there anyone else you could ask?"

"No. The Slayer doesn't know and even if she did, I doubt she'd want to chat with the host of Jo'Nekra. Did you take your serum?"

"Yes,_ Mother_," Neela said.

Liam ignored the sarcasm and took hold of Neela's hand and led her through the graveyard, stopping in front of a small tomb.

"Voila. The best in vampire accommodation," he said.

Neela looked at it. "And I thought my apartment in LA was bad."

"Yeah, I keep meaning to do it up," said Spike, walking up behind them. "Not much with a view, but…" he shrugged.

"Spike, I assume?" said Liam, doing a passable imitation of a man who had not just leapt two feet into the air.

"Come on, Liam, who else would it be?" Neela said. "Enjoy your kittens?" she asked the vampire.

"Oh, it's you," he said. "Well, you might as well come in."

As they followed Spike into his crypt, Liam caught Neela's arm.

"You know Spike?" he whispered.

"I met him just before you turned up," she whispered back. "He seemed ok, for a vampire. Said something about a chip."

"Yeah, Mr Giles told me about that. Play it safe."

"Word on the street is you know how to reach the Oracles," Neela said to Spike.

"There's nothing as nice as Oracles in Sunnydale," he replied. "I might be able to get you to the Guides to the Old Ones."

"Liam?" she asked.

"Um, dark Oracles," he said. "Don't much care about who wins and will advise just about anyone. I thought they were driven out by the Oracles."

"Most of 'em," Spike agreed. "But what with the Hellmouth-"

"Of course," Liam said to himself. "The negative energy would hide them from the Oracles. Why didn't I think of that?"

Spike and Neela shared a glance. "Who is this guy?"

"Liam, an ex-Watcher. Or maybe an actual Watcher, not sure," Neela said. "Will you take us to these Guides?"

"Sure, but I want to be paid and you have to have some darkness in you to talk to 'em these days," Spike told her. "Can't see how a pretty little thing like you-"

"Trust me, darkness really isn't a problem," Neela said. "As for payment, how about five pints of blood?" Neela waited for Spike to nod and turned to Liam. "Liam, I'll call when this is over."

The Irishman looked like he was about to argue, then sighed. "Watch your back," he said. "Especially around the bloodsucker."

"Hey!" said Spike. "I have a name, you know."

Liam shrugged in a vaguely apologetic way and left as Spike walked to a hole in the ground.

"You live above the Guides?" Neela asked.

"Nope, but it's easiest to take the tunnels."

Neela let Spike lead the way through the sewers. She was happy not to talk, but he had other ideas.

"So, what kind of name is Neela?"

"What kind of name is Spike?" she retorted.

"What's your darkness?"

"I don't have a soul," she said quietly.

"Well, that would do it," Spike said. "You seem human, though."

"Human host, soul was destroyed when demon rammed in at speed," Neela said shortly.

"Which demon?"

"Jo'Nekra."

"Ok, I don't want to know what your mother was doing with a Granok."

"That's disgusting."

The vampire stopped walking. "Think we're here. Did you bring an offering?"

"Uh-"

"Give them your watch. These guys love time."

"Where are they?"

"You got a light?" was the only reply. Neela fished an old lighter out of her pocket and passed it to him. Spike took a piece of paper out of his pocket. He lit it. "Open up, guide us, blah blah," he muttered.

Neela watched as a portal spun into existence in front of them. "Well, that works."

"Well, come on then," Spike said. Neela hesitated and he grabbed her hand.

"Hey!" she yelled as he walked through the portal, pulling her after him.

Travelling through portals was never fun, and Neela didn't even like flying. She forced down the urge to either scream or be sick, but couldn't stop herself from keeping a firm hold on Spike.

At the other end, Spike managed to keep them both on their feet. Neela angrily wrenched her hand away.

"That wasn't very nice," she snapped.

"Vampire, remember? Just because I can't snap your spine in two doesn't mean I'm going to play nice."

"There are such things as manners, you know," she said. "And why am I having a conversation with a vampire?"

"Because I'm a handsome devil who makes you laugh?"

"Whatever. Can I have my lighter back?"

Spike put his hand into his pocket and pulled the lighter out, throwing it back to her.

"Thank you. Where are these Guides, exactly?"

"Down there," Spike said, jerking his thumb towards a dark corridor. "I'll wait here for you."

"Thanks," Neela said and started walking. She took the watch off her wrist and twirled it in her fingers as the light behind her faded. It was definitely a long corridor.

Then she was standing in a brightly lit chamber, with a shadowy presence in front of her.

"Are you the Guide?" she called.

_Yes. _

"I brought this for you." Neela held up the watch. It shot from her hand into the shadow.

_Thanks to you, my child. What do you wish to know?_

Neela hesitated, biting her lip. "It is possible to recover Connor and Caitlin from Quor'toth?"

_Yes._

"Can I do it?"

_That depends on how far you are willing to go. _

"Figures," Neela muttered. "What about John? Can he help me?"

_He believes that you are nothing more than the demon you carry inside you._

"Will he kill me?"

_That is why he came. He wishes to set his sister free, release her from the torture she is suffering. But if he kills you, he will kill all that is good inside him. He will be just another tool of the Clan. _

Neela winced as a vision of John flashed through her mind. He was standing in front of a pile of fresh corpses, magic lancing his hands and fingers. Blood stained his face and Neela realised with a sick stomach that his eyes were pure black, with no pupils or whites.

"Was that his future?" she asked, rubbing her eyes to clear them of that awful sight. "Is that what he'll become?"

_Yes. Unless you can save him._

"How can I save him?"

_Again, that depends on how far you are willing to go._

"If I get the twins back, will the Clan come after them again?"

_No. The girl will be too old for them to use her._

"Too old? How long will it take me to get them back?"

_Time moves differently in the dark worlds. _

"Can you tell me anything about the next Hunter then? If it's not Caitlin, who is it?"

_I cannot tell you that. _

"Why not? I thought you could answer any question."

_I can't tell you everything. You should know that. _

"Brilliant." Neela swallowed, more than a little afraid, before asking the next question. "What am I?"

_You are Neela. _

"Can I ever have a soul?"

_You were not meant to walk on this world, Neela._

Neela bit her lip, frowning slightly. "You said that Erin was suffering?"

_She is trapped and alone._

"Can I... can I bring her back? Give her back this body?"

_Maybe._

Neela jerked as the Guide dumped some information straight into her brain. Then she realised what it meant for her and sighed. "You can't tell me any more?"

_The outcome of this conflict is unknown to all. You are a most difficult person to influence. And that is a compliment._

Neela looked up, but the shadow had already gone. She stuck her hands in her pockets and left, slowly walking back down the corridor to Spike.

He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "Find any answers, love?"

"I think so. A bit cryptic," Neela said. "Can we get out of here now?"

"Sure," he held out his hand. "I can't bite," he added when she didn't take it. Neela sighed and put her hand in his as the room faded out, the sewer tunnels rushing back to take its place.

"I'll bring the blood round in a day or two," she said, pulling her hand back. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

Neela started walking away when he called her back.

"Who's John?"

"No one you need to worry about."

"Well, if he kills you too soon, I might not get paid," Spike said nonchalantly. "And I'm just dying for a good fight."

"You'll get your blood, and he's human. You wouldn't be able to hurt him," Neela told him. "And I'll keep him away from the Slayer and her little gang, I promise."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Spike asked.

"Demons do talk, you know. The underworld was buzzing about you two," Neela said. "And I'd really appreciate it if you didn't get them or anyone else involved, ok?"

Spike stepped forward, smiling again. Neela felt herself blush slightly. "How appreciative?" he whispered, bringing his face close to hers. "You know, some of the talk of me and the Slayer is just talk."

"Well," Neela whispered back, letting a little smile into her eyes and stroking his hair back. "Let's call it seven pints."

Spike missed a beat and then burst out laughing. Neela grinned and started to walk away.

"Take care, pet," he called after her.

"I intend to," was the reply as Neela turned the corner.

Spike paused for a moment, watching her go, before heading back to his own crypt. He hoped the kid wouldn't get herself killed too soon. Spike had the feeling that things might get pretty interesting with the carrier of Jo'Nekra in town.

xxx

Reviews would be hugely appreciated, hint hint...


	11. Chapter 11

Liam was waiting for Neela in his apartment, surrounded by old books in strange languages. Poor guy had been trying to disprove the existence of leprechauns since before Neela had been created. It was the project he always reverted to in times of boredom. As always, he was having little luck when she got back.

"Well?" he said as she came in. "What did they say?"

Neela sat down. "What do you know about Jo'Nekra? The demon, I mean, not the symbol."

Liam sighed. "If I had found anything new, I would've told you."

"In that case, go over what we already know. What would happen if you exorcised Jo'Nekra from this body?"

"The energy that will be released _if_ we could get the demon out of you will be huge. It could kill you and everything within a ten mile radius. I'm still working on some theories, but-"

"Jo'Nekra is a Granok, right?" Neela asked. Liam nodded. "Like Sahjhan, the demon from LA. The time/dimension-hopping demon."

"Sort of. He's a much older Granok. It's like vampires and Turok-Hans. What are you talking about?"

"Can you summon a Granok?"

"Um, yes, I think so. Neela, what are you planning?"

"Liam, I think I have a way to get the twins back, but first we need to talk to Sahjhan."

"Why?"

"To check that we can."

xxx

They had spent the last two days arguing back and forth about Neela's plan, but she wouldn't budge. Liam had finally agreed, on the condition that he did all of the calculations and actual magic. Neela had been only too happy to let him.

"I still say this is crazy," Liam said. Neela gave him an annoyed look.

"Maybe, but it's our best chance."

"I know, I know. You got the Urn, right?"

"One original Resikhian Urn." Neela pointed to where she had put it, just outside of the sketchy pentagram they had drawn. "That thing cost a fortune, you know."

"Hey, you can afford it. Being evil pays better than being a Watcher. Where's the other one?"

"On order. It should arrive tomorrow."

"Cutting it pretty fine," Liam said, searching for matches. "Can I borrow the lighter?"

Neela found it in its usual place in her pocket and threw it to him.

He stood in the middle of the pentagram, an old scroll in his hands.

"_Ducate Granok Sahjhan Demonicus_," he recited.

"That's it?" Neela asked after a moment.

"It takes a while, Neela. Be patient," he said.

The pentagram started to glow and Liam gave Neela an 'I told you so' look as he moved back. Both of them covered their eyes as Sahjhan appeared.

"What the-" the demon started. "Hey, I know you. Neela, right? Clan's senior Hunter?"

"Among other things," Neela replied coolly. "May I draw your attention to the very attractive Urn my lovely assistant is modelling? That kind of craftsmanship lasts a lifetime. That is, if you intend to live forever."

Sahjhan looked at the Urn. "So, what can I do for you?"

"What did you do to Doyle?" she asked. "I haven't seen him since before you threw a spanner in my works."

"Who? Oh, your ghost friend. Yeah, I trapped him in a box."

"You stuffed him in a box? Why?"

"Well, not to split hairs, but it was a glass cube. To get him back, all you have to do is break it. I gave it to some conjurer in LA as a little gift."

"Um, thanks. I don't suppose you want to tell me why you hate Angel so much?"

"Why do you care? This isn't even LA, I know that," Sahjhan said. He sniffed the air. "Ooh, Hellmouth. Sunnydale or Cleveland?"

"Did you fake the prophecy Wesley found or not?" Neela snapped.

"Of course."

"Why?" Liam asked.

"It's pretty freaky the first time you see your name in a true prophecy, all carved in blood on an official scroll. 'The one fathered by the vampire with a soul shall grow to manhood and kill Sahjhan.' Me."

"So you, what, rewrote the prophecies to get the kids away from Angel?"

"Pretty much. I flitted back and forth in time, changed the one that threatened me, polished some others. Flitted in a manly way. Just so we're clear."

Liam and Neela shared a look. "Ok, so what was meant to happen then?"

"Well, I wanted the twins dead. Holtz was useless. Wanted to raise the kids as his own. I'm living with a knife over my heart for eleven hundred years and he's into petty revenge."

"There's a lot of that going around," Liam said with a smile. "Do you want to or should I?" he asked Neela.

"Knock yourself out," she said.

Liam picked up the Urn and started to work the lid free.

"Hey, I told you everything you wanted to know," Sahjhan protested. "You can't do that!"

"When did that become part of the agreement?" Neela asked, lighting a cigarette from one of the candles.

Liam yanked the Urn open and a stream of red light curled out, reaching towards Sahjhan.

"Oh, fu-"

The light vanished back into the Urn, taking Sahjhan with it. Liam slammed the lid down fast.

"So much for that prophecy," he said, grinning. Liam took a special joy in disproving prophecies – his father had been prophesised to die at the hands of a Hunter and Liam had worked for years to stop it from happening. He had managed it, resulting the chain of events that led to Neela's creation.

"It worked. Good," Neela said, still smoking.

"I thought you quit those things."

"Things have been pretty tense recently, if you haven't noticed." Neela flicked the cigarette butt away. "Now we just need the second Urn and John."

"I don't like this. Neela, there has to be another way," Liam said. "John isn't exactly Mr Stability. What if he kills you?"

"We've discussed this, Liam. I'd rather be dead than let Jo'Nekra destroy me. We're running out of time. In two weeks, I will be gone one way or another." She blew out a thin stream of spoke. "Might as well go out with a bang."

xxx

John stopped the bike and climbed off, looking around at his surroundings. After a week of chasing false leads, she had actually contacted him and asked to meet. No outsiders, no weapons.

He just wanted this to be over. John hadn't always been close to his sister, but he loved her in the fierce, passionate way that the Clan disapproved of so much. When he was sixteen, he had drawn the Clan away from Erin and Uncle Paul to keep her safe. At twenty-one, he hadn't stopped the Clan making her a monster. And now, at thirty-one, he was finally killing that monster.

A sound behind him made John turn. It was her.

"Hey, John," she said quietly.

"Jo'Nekra," he replied.

"No. Neela."

"Oh, right, sorry. Can we please get this over with?"

"You want to kill Jo'Nekra."

"Yeah. What's your point?"

"Because now we have something in common."

"God, this is the most pathetic trick you have _ever_ come up with," John snapped.

Neela grabbed his arm as he reached for a weapon. "I will kill you if you don't listen to me." She tightened her grip just enough to hurt. "I am not Jo'Nekra. That demon is bound within me with some funky spells. I am not your sister. She died a decade ago tomorrow. I am something new. I have no soul, but I care about some people. It's a pretty short list, but the tiny smidge of Erin in me makes me add you to it. Will you help me or not?"

"I cannot believe you're trying this!"

"I found a way of Unmaking Hunters," Neela said. Even as John's eyes widened, she continued. "The magic that keeps Jo'Nekra bound is going to run out, soon. Killing me would stop the problem, but Unmaking me would also give the Clan a good clip around the ear."

John grinned; he couldn't stop himself. Annoying the Clan was one of his favourite activities. Then common sense came back into force. "No Hunter would want to Unmake itself. It's impossible."

"Have you heard of Liam Reilly?"

John shrugged. "Reilly is a powerful Irish Mage name."

"Bingo. Liam is one of them. He's kinda responsible for me. He wrote it all down." She held out the letter she had bullied Liam into writing. Neela had never been able to understand the reasons for her existence, but surely John, another mage, would be able to.

She waited as John read the letter quickly, hearing his small sounds of disbelief. Finally, he refolded the letter, brow creased in concentration.

"You're just a consciousness?" he asked.

Neela nodded.

"And you have no soul?"

"As far as we know. No human, no matter how powerful, has ever created a soul."

John was amazed to see Neela looked slightly upset about that. "And you have human emotions."

"Yeah."

"Is that why you care about Erin?"

"I have fragments of her. In me. I know I have no right to this body and my time is up, but I'd rather she got to rest in peace or whatever than Jo'Nekra walks on the earth again."

"I didn't think a being without a soul could do the right thing."

"Sometimes I don't," Neela admitted.

"Well, this time I think you are."

"Thank you."

"So, what do you want me to do?"

Neela smiled in relief. "I need you to do the Unmaking. Liam's going to LA to use the energy produced by your spell to get Angel's children back."

John nodded. "When should I meet you?"

"Tomorrow, in the graveyard. Just before midnight." She passed over a slim folder. "That should be all you need to prepare for the spell."

John nodded again. He turned and walked back to his bike, driving swiftly away. Neela watched him go. That had gone much better than she had expected.

"What do you want, Spike?" she asked without taking her eyes off her brother.

The vampire came out of the shadows. "Maybe I like you and don't want you to be killed just yet," Spike said, sounding peeved. "Just because I don't have a soul doesn't mean I'm the scum of the earth."

"You're too good looking to be the scum of the earth, Spike. And I can't believe I just said that."

"It's only natural. Where's your knowledgeable Irish fellow?"

"You must mean Liam. I'll take you to him."

As they walked, Spike glanced at Neela. "So you're just going to let this brother of yours kill you?"

"Spike, I know you heard our whole conversation, so don't try to simplify this like that. Now, can we not talk about this anymore?"

Spike held up his hands in defeat. "I just don't understand. Most humans are desperate to survive."

"Well, I'm not human, am I?"

He didn't try to speak to her again. They soon reached Liam's flat and Neela rapped on the door.

Liam opened the door almost immediately. "Neela, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. He agreed to help."

Liam sighed with relief. Then he spotted Spike. "What's William the Bloody doing on my doorstep?"

"Need a little information," Spike said.

"Does that mean you won't eat me?" he asked.

"Liam," said Neela, giving him an exasperated look that was almost as vocal as Spike's.

"Come in, both of you," Liam said, stepping back to let them in.

Neela collapsed on the sofa. Spike leant against the wall, looking around curiously. Liam wasn't the tidiness of men and his research was spread all over the small flat.

"Liam, can you get to LA by midnight tomorrow?" she asked.

"Of course, but isn't tomorrow-"

"I know. Either we do it tomorrow at just past midnight or we can't ever. Timing is everything in this."

"I'll leave tonight." Liam sounded tired and more than a little upset. "Uh, Spike, what can I do for you?"

"I, um, was just wondering if there was anyway for me to get my soul back," the vampire said.

Neela's head shot up to stare at him. Liam's mouth was actually hanging open.

"Seems the Romanians started a trend," Neela said finally.

"One way of putting it," Liam agreed. "Spike, how did you come to this highly... surprising idea?"

"Got this ruddy chip in my head, don't I? Something that was done to me. Now I stuck in between worlds and it's bloody annoying," Spike said.

"So why not just get the chip out?" Liam asked.

"Because... Because..."

"Buffy, right?" Neela asked. "The Slayer must be pretty special."

"You have no idea," Spike said. "I want to give her what she deserves. I want to be something real again."

Liam smiled at the vampire. "There are demon trials, set up in a cave near a South African tribe. I can find out which for you and help you get there in one piece, if you do something for me."

"What?" Spike asked, looking suspicious.

Liam looked at Neela. "Go with her tomorrow night. If something goes wrong, try and help her."

"Liam!" Neela squeaked.

"John shouldn't stick around when the spell's done and you'll be way too weak to fend for yourself. I won't be there, remember?" Liam told her.

Neela looked from him to Spike. "Ok," she said finally.

Spike nodded. "Sure. It could be fun."

"Just don't hurt John, no matter what happens, all right?" Neela said.

Spike grinned innocently and nodded again.

"See?" Liam said. "It'll all be fine."

xxx


	12. Chapter 12

Spike had left when Liam had found the information for him, leaving Neela and Liam alone. They were sitting together, neither of them looking at each other. Neela leant forward to sign a piece of paper.

"I can't believe we're doing this," he said.

"Making the closest thing I'll have to a will?" Neela said, with a small forced smile. "Not that I have a lot to give. You'll make sure he gets it, right?"

Liam nodded, taking the envelope from her. "I hate this plan," he said suddenly. "I hate that I can't be there for you and I hate that this is the only way."

"I can't do this anymore. I can't fight myself all the time. I don't even know why I'm fighting," Neela said quietly. "I know you care about me and think I'm ok the way I am, but this isn't about me anymore." She tapped the photo of Erin and Paul that lay on the table. "It's about her."

Liam nodded slowly. "I know. Still hate it." He stood up and picked up the will. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Neela stood up as well. "Watch your back," she said. "And take this." She held out a silver cross he had given her years before. "For luck."

Liam smiled and hugged her. They stayed together for a long moment before he broke away. "This is not goodbye. I am going to see you again," he said firmly, taking the cross.

She watched him pick up his bag and leave, even watching his car drive away down the road from the window. Neela trusted Liam so much, but she knew that she might very well not live to see him return.

"Goodbye," she whispered.

xxx

The next day passed too slowly for Neela's liking. She hungered for dusk in a way that she had never done before and several times considered calling Liam and begging him to come back. But she had been strong, or at least not weak, for years. She just had to be brave for a few more hours.

She spent some time moving her belongings from the van into Liam's apartment to sort through them. A few distinctive weapons and books were put to one side. They would have to be destroyed. Most of the other things were commonplace enough to be kept. Neela argued with herself over the pictures for a long moment and then put the photo of Erin's family in an envelope and sealed it. She'd only ever kept it out of some sort of morbid curiosity. She had never understood families.

With an old CD of Liam's playing, Neela made the last few preparations for that night. A few hours after sunset, there was a knock on the door. When she opened it, Neela found Spike standing there with a bottle of whisky.

"Want some company?" he asked.

Neela managed to smile. "Why not?"

She went back to the clothes as Spike came in and shut the door behind him.

"What are you doing?"

Neela looked up at him. "Figured giving John the books and stuff wouldn't hurt."

"Right. You're really going to go through with this?"

"What else can I do?"

Spike shrugged. "Want some?" he said, offering her the bottle.

"I don't think Dutch courage is just what I need right now."

"When do we have to meet this brother of yours?"

"Not till midnight. You came pretty early."

Spike shrugged. "There are worse ways to spend a few hours than with a pretty lady."

Neela blushed again and Spike chuckled. "Aw, is the evil demon getting embarrassed?" he teased.

"Stop that. You've got the Slayer, remember? Oh, I can't wait to see Angel's face when he finds out about that," she said smugly.

"You really don't like him, do you?" Spike asked. Neela gave him a look. "Right. So who do you have?"

"I'm not big on relationships."

"What about Liam?"

"If circumstances were different, maybe. But we're beyond that kind of thing now. I know him too well. Plus there was the whole deal where I nearly killed him."

"What are you going to do, when the demon's out and all?" Spike asked.

Neela stopped sorting in real surprise. "I'll be dead, Spike. What are you going to do with your new shiny soul?"

"Well, I think I'm meant to spend a century bewailing my sins," he replied. "I might give that a miss, though."

"Good choice."

He took another mouthful of whisky. "Sure you don't want some?"

Neela nodded. "Spike?" she asked. "Does it hurt to die?"

"Being made a vamp hurt, yeah. Profound experience, talk about life changing, but ouch. I don't know much about dying in some weird Unmaking ceremony, though," he said. "I really don't understand you."

"Join the club. Oh, as I never got a chance to get your blood for you, here." She fished out a set of keys and threw them to Spike.

"What's this?"

"The keys to my bike. It's in the warehouse off the main street. I've got my van so I don't have much use for it anymore."

"Why are you giving me your motorbike?"

"Because it'll go wonderfully with the coat," Neela said cheekily.

Spike grinned and put the keys into his pocket. "Thanks."

Neela looked at the clock on the wall. "We should probably get going." She gathered up the books and clothes, stuffing them all into a bag. Spike watched as she pulled on a jacket.

"You can still back out," he said.

Neela shook her head. "No, I can't. Let's just get this over with." She took one last look around the flat and headed for the door. Spike grabbed the whisky bottle and followed.

xxx

Neela stood in the graveyard, trying not to pace or fidget.

Spike, on the other hand, had no problem showing his annoyance. "Where is the little ponce? Doesn't he know we're on a schedule?"

"He'll be here soon. And Spike, whatever happens, do not kill him."

"Even if he kills you?"

Neela nodded. "You and I both know that I'm going to die in this stupid idea of mine. And if he kills me, at least something good might come out of it."

A rustle behind them made Spike spin around. Neela turned as well, more slowly.

"Neela?" called a voice.

"I'm here," she called back. John came forward to stand in front of her.

"Who's that?" John asked, looking at Spike curiously.

"A friend," Neela said.

"A dead friend?"

"Yeah," Spike said. "Dead as a, a... a really dead thing."

"John, meet William the Bloody," Neela said. "Spike, my sort of brother and fellow conspirator John. John, get your mind out of the gutter. He's just a friend."

"Sure," John said. "And you wonder why the Clan doesn't like you."

Neela smiled. "I never was one to play their game," she admitted. "Here." She handed him the bag. "Might help to convince the Clan. I assume you're being paid for shuffling me off this mortal coil."

"Enough to pay for my kids' college tuition easily," he replied, nodding.

"You have children?" Neela asked, sounding surprised. She had never thought about it, but she realised John must have some family. He was six years older than her, had had quite a normal life compared to her. "Sons?"

"Yes," he said, nodding slightly. "Patrick and Paul."

Neela managed a feeble smile. "Fitting," she whispered. "Erin would've liked that."

"So, where do we do the spell?" Spike asked quickly.

"Back here," John said. "I've got it all set up. We just need to wait for your friend to tell us he's ready."

Spike looked at the brother and sister. "I'll just check there are no demons around," he muttered and quickly walked off.

"He seems nice enough," John said, watching the vampire go. "I assume he's not planning to eat you on your wedding night, of course."

"He's just a friend," Neela repeated, ignoring the blush she felt.

They stood in silence for a few moments, just looking at each other.

"What do think Dad would think of us doing this?" John asked finally.

"Oh," Neela said, realising what she had forgotten to tell him. "John, I met your father in LA. He – He was dead. He was a vampire."

John stared at his feet. "Oh, God. Should have seen that one coming, shouldn't I? I mean, in his line of work..." His voice cracked with emotion and he turned away, rubbing at his eyes.

"John, I'm sorry."

"Is he- Did you stake him?"

"Yes. And Mary."

"Good. That's... good."

Neela was saved from having to reply when Liam called. She pulled out the phone quickly.

"It's time," he said.

"We'll get started. It should be over fairly quickly," Neela said.

"Be careful. I'll see you soon, understand?"

"Good luck."

"You too," he said.

John had been listening intently. "Now?"

Neela nodded and put the phone away. "Now."

They started to walk to where John had prepared the pentagram and Urn. It was all ready. Spike was leaning against a tree, waiting for them.

"I'm never going to see you again, am I?" John asked her. "No matter how it turns out."

Neela opened her mouth to say _Of course not, you won't be able to get rid of me _and hesitated for just a second too long.

"I thought so," he said and moved away, repositioning the Urn slightly.

"Good luck, love," Spike said, coming closer. "Try not to die."

"Getting sentimental in your old age?" Neela joked feebly.

"Apparently so. What can I say? You brighten the place up."

"Thank you. I hate to ask, but..."

"Anything."

"When the spell's done, get John out of here immediately," Neela said.

"Right."

Neela went to join her brother. Not one of them spoke as Neela knelt in the middle of the pentagram. She stretched out her left arm, letting her forearm rest just outside of the pentagram.

John, face full of anguish, turned to Spike.

"When I complete the incantation, I need you to open the Urn," he said, his voice almost steady. "When I tell you to, you have to smash the Urn."

Spike nodded and moved to stand next to the Urn. John took up an axe, carefully sharpened to slice easily and cleanly through bone.

"Goodbye, little sister," he whispered.

"Live well, John," Neela replied. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to prepare herself.

John raised the axe. "_Ducate Granok Jo'Nekra Demonicus,_" he chanted.

Spike wrenched the Urn open as Neela's hand began to glow red. She screamed in agony. The light gushed from her fingers to the Urn and another scream joined hers. A faint image of a demon shimmered in the air between her and the Urn.

"No!" roared Jo'Nekra. "I will rule all! I will break the child!"

Neela's eyes snapped open. "Go to hell!" she shouted, her eyes defiant despite the pain.

The demon howled as it was sucked away from Neela to the Urn, disappearing into it.

"Now!" John yelled to Spike.

The vampire seized the jar and slammed it into a tree, shattering it.

John brought the axe down as Neela screamed again.

"Liam!"

The force of the spell threw Spike halfway across the graveyard.

xxx

This chapter is a little shorter than normal, sorry about that. Things have been a little manic, but I will be back with a longer chapter in a week or so. Thanks to all those who reviewed and please keep reading!


	13. Chapter 13

xxx

In the Hyperion, chaos ruled supreme.

Angel had slowly been coming to terms with his children's disappearance. The rest of the team were searching for ways to get them back and he was helping where he could. All in all, there were more important things than keeping the Hyperion ship-shape.

Before Angel had calmed down enough to come back out of his room, Lorne had carefully removed all traces of the twins from the office and lobby. He was the only one who could keep himself together enough to even look at those things. For everyone else, it was just too painful.

Wesley had been quiet and withdrawn, spending most of his time searching for any mention of Quor'toth. He was determined to find a way to get the twins back. So far, though, he had had no luck. He was having trouble concentrating.

Neela had been gone for about a fortnight and nobody had mentioned her yet. Wesley was worried. John had seemed to really want to hurt Neela, and as good as she was, even Neela needed backup sometimes. Even with what she had done, he found he couldn't hate her. She'd helped him and he was certain that they could've helped her – if she had let them.

Fred watched Gunn, worried. He had been dejected since he found out the truth about Neela, but he seemed to be getting a little happier. Or maybe she was just getting used to the gloominess that had taken over the Hyperion.

It was the first time in a fortnight that the whole gang had been in the same place with anything resembling a purpose. Lorne had asked to speak to them all. With their current run of bad luck, there was a general feeling of foreboding over the group. What was it going to be this time? Sahjhan turned up again? Flesh eating demons attacking downtown LA?

"Maybe this isn't the best time to tell you this, but I'm thinking of opening Caritas again."

"Lorne, that's great!" Fred cried.

"I thought Caritas was unsalvageable?" Cordelia asked.

"Well, you did blow it up twice," Lorne said. "I was going to find a new place. I've already seen a couple of places on the market that might do."

"And how long before someone blows it up again?" Cordelia joked.

"I'll admit the old system had a few bugs, but the Furies will work them out. Hopefully. Gee, you'd think you guys could be just a little positive."

"I did say it was great," Fred protested.

"It's good," said Angel. "You know, moving on and all that..."

"I'll still be around," Lorne said quickly. "You don't get rid of me that easily, Angelcakes."

"You always think people are going to be around," Angel said, more to himself than to anyone else. "And sooner or later, they're not there anymore. But no matter how long you live, you never get used to losing them."

The gang looked at each other. None of them knew what to say. Cordelia and Wesley shared a look. It was important that Angel didn't lose hope, no matter how bad things seemed. Neither of them wanted him to go back to that strange grey place that he had been in last year, when he wasn't quite Angelus, but definitely wasn't Angel either.

"Angel," Cordelia started. "We will get them back, I promise."

"But are they ok? Are they scared or cold or hungry?" Angel asked, looking at her.

"We'll find them and they'll be fine," Cordelia said firmly. "In fact-"

Her eyes glazed over, turning milky-white. Gunn sat up eagerly.

"Vision approaching," he said. Even Angel perked up at the news.

Cordelia blinked rapidly, clearing off the opaque side effect of her vision. "Ok, there's a young man on the south highway into town and a load of vampires. He's not too badly hurt but he's seriously outnumbered."

Angel stood up, walking to the weapon's cabinet and opening it. He chose the largest broadsword, pleased with its comforting weight in his hand. "Let's go even the odds then," he said.

The rest of the gang leapt up, finding favoured weapons. Angel Investigations was finding its feet again.

xxx

Liam swore extensively in several languages. He had been driving into LA, just minding his business, when a group of vamps had decided to crash into his car and put him on the menu. He really did not have the time or patience to deal with this.

He staked a vamp and kicked another away from him. Liam was a good enough fighter, but for every vampire he killed, there seemed to be three more ready to take its place. A vampire grabbed him around the waist and threw him into his car. Liam fell to the ground and rolled to the side just in time to avoid a foot in his face.

The vampire grinned at him. "I thought Irishmen were supposed to be tough," he said, his fangs obscuring his words slightly.

"Go to hell," Liam shot back, his Irish accent clear.

"That's the best idea I've heard all evening," said another voice, American this time.

A crossbow bolt pierced the vampire's heart. As the creature fell to dust, Liam stared at the shooter. He had seen the young man before, in pictures.

"You ok?" asked Gunn, reaching down to help Liam to his feet.

"Bloody brilliant," Liam replied. "Duck."

Gunn dodged to the side as Liam dived forward to knock a vampire to the ground.

As Liam beat the un-living daylights of his vampire, the rest of the Angel Investigation's team was making short work of the others.

Angel slammed into the vampires, glad to have something to fight. Gunn was helping out Fred and Cordelia was holding her own, a light-weight sword in one hand and a pile of dust in front of her. Even Wesley was enjoying himself, trading blows with a huge vampire. His smaller stature gave him an advantage and Wesley was able to dodge most of his opponent's strikes.

When all of the vampire's were dust, Liam stretched a sore arm and looked at his saviours. There was no doubt about it. These were the people who Neela had spent the last two months working with. He stuffed the anger he felt back into himself. He wasn't here to be some sort of avenging angel. The phrase made him chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Angel asked. Liam knew it was Angel. Who else could have that much pent up aggression?

Liam grinned. "Nothing much. Just seems quite ridiculous to be saved from vampires by a vampire, that's all."

"You know what he is?" asked a man that could only be Wesley.

"Come on. Who could fail to recognise the great Angelus?" Liam said flippantly.

"It's Angel now," the vampire snapped.

"Oh, of course. Guy gets a soul and suddenly thinks that a little bit of good gives him access to the higher moral ground," Liam said. He knew he was being silly and childish, but this guy was really annoying him. It was amazing Neela had never kicked his ass all the way back to hell when she was in LA.

"Do I know you?" Angel asked. "Because I'm getting the impression that you don't like me that much."

"Which is pretty rude considering we just saved your ass," said a woman with short blondish hair. Cordelia, Liam assumed.

"For which I'm grateful, really," Liam told her. "And I'll make it up to you, princess. But, no, we've never met. We just have a friend in common. Well, I say friend, but-"

Wesley interrupted suddenly. "Liam Reilly, am I correct? Neela's friend?"

"Spot on, Mr Wyndam-Pryce," Liam said.

"The Liam that helped out when Cordy went into a coma?" the last member of the group asked. What was her name? Oh, yes, Fred.

"I just shoved Neela in the right direction," Liam replied modestly.

Gunn was looking at him, a strange expression on his face. "You know Neela?"

"Have done for years. Why?"

"And you know what she is?"

Liam bit back the urge to say something really rude. "Yeah. Is there some sort of problem here?"

Gunn looked like he was about to say something else, but Fred caught his arm. Liam glanced at his watch. Time to move this along.

"Look, I don't have a lot of time. I can help you get your twins back, but we have to do it now, basically," Liam said to Angel.

"What?" said Wesley and Angel together.

"The little leprechaun knows something?" Gunn asked nastily.

Liam rolled his eyes. "Leprechauns don't technically exist, smart-ass. I found a spell to reopen the way to Quor'toth." He spoke slowly, as if Gunn was simple. "We do the spell, maybe the kids will pop back through. Get it?"

"Huh?" Angel said.

Liam turned to Wesley. "Can you try?"

"Well, it's quite a shock," Wesley said. "We should get back to the Hotel and discuss this further."

Liam grabbed his rucksack and slung it over his shoulder before picking up a large cardboard box.

"Guys, we have to be ready to roll by quarter to midnight at the latest," he said. "So whatever your issues with me or Neela, get over them. We do not have time." He turned to Angel. "I'm only going to ask this once. Want to get your kids back?"

xxx

Liam had cleared a large space in the Hyperion's lobby and gathered together the other supplies. He was starting to set out the candles when Wesley came out of the office, a copy of the spell in his hands.

"How did you find this?" he asked.

"I didn't. She did," Liam said curtly.

"I thought she wanted the kids gone," Gunn said, coming back into the lobby.

Liam stood up again. "No, the Clan did. She wasn't the Clan, and she made the right decision, aka not to take the kids. Am I the only one to make that distinction?"

"That's hardly fair," Wesley said.

"Well, you know what? Life isn't fair," Liam replied. "Can you pass me another candle?"

Gunn stared coldly at the Irishman and stayed where he was. Unperturbed, Liam fetched the extra candle himself.

"Very mature," he told Gunn. "How many of you are there?"

"Six," Wesley replied.

"And I make seven. Perfect. Anyone know how to draw a regular heptagon? Seven pointed star, I mean?"

"I can," Fred offered.

Liam gave her a disarming smile and passed her the paint and paintbrush. "Thanks," he said. "Oh, be quick, please. We have to ready soon."

"Why is timing so important?" asked Wesley curiously.

For a moment Liam considered making up some tale to keep the truth from them. Then he saw Angel watching him from the stairs and something inside Liam snapped. "This is only half of the procedure to get the children back. We need a huge amount of energy to force a way through to Quor'toth. Neela is getting the energy at midnight and I can channel it through this-" he pulled a heavy piece of jade, hanging from a black cord, out of his pocket. "And into the dimensional wall between here and there. But it's going to take careful timing. The energy that Neela is... procuring can only be gotten once. We have to make it count."

"But how will Connor and Caitlin get through?" Fred asked, still painting the heptagon. "They're just babies."

Liam hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say. He couldn't lie, not about this, but as much as he disliked Angel, he had no desire to hurt him.

"What?" Angel said, his voice low and firm.

"Um, everything wants to be in its own dimension. When the tear is made, the children will almost be pulled through, the desire to get back here will be so strong," Liam said, giving another casual smile.

"There's more to it than that," Angel said. It wasn't a question.

"Time moves... differently in other dimensions," Liam said quietly. "Faster, normally. The kids might, might not be kids anymore."

Angel froze, staring blankly at the floor.

"I'm sorry," Liam said, meaning it. "But-"

"How much?" Angel asked.

"What?"

"How much faster does time move there?"

"I don't know. It might be a year there for a day here, or a month or an hour. There's no way to tell," Liam said.

Angel nodded slowly, trying to take in this new information.

"Liam," said Wesley. "It's almost midnight."

Liam nodded, looking around. Fred had finished the heptagon. Everything was ready.

"Guys, everyone grab a candle and light it. Each of you stand at one point of the star," Liam ordered, going to the phone and dialling. Neela picked up almost immediately.

"It's time," he said.

"We'll get started. It should be over fairly quickly," Neela said.

"Be careful. I'll see you soon, understand?"

"Yeah. Good luck."

"You too," he said.

Liam carefully put the phone down, picked up the last candle and moved to take up his position. He looked around at the assorted people. They were a pretty strange bunch – an old street-rat, a physicist, a seer, an ex-Watcher, a green demon and a soulful vampire. No wonder Neela had liked it here, and she had enjoyed herself, no matter how much she might now try to deny it. Liam sighed and tossed the hunk of jade into the centre of the heptagon. From his other pocket, he brought a silver cross.

"What's that for?" Cordelia asked.

"Just a good luck charm," Liam replied.

"What do we do?" asked the demon, Lorne.

"You all saw the doorway to Quor'toth, right? Remember what it looked like, what you saw or heard or felt. Think about what we're trying to do here. Think about those kids."

Liam shut his eyes, searching for the energy burst with his mage's senses.

_I will see her again._

Nothing. What was keeping her?

_I will see her again. _

Still nothing. Liam redoubled his efforts, focusing more tightly. His eyes flew open again as something pricked the edge of his consciousness.

"This might get weird," he warned. "It's-"

Cordelia yelped as his eyes rolled up. Liam was shaking, as was the jade on the floor.

Liam felt his mind being wrenched out of his body, being pulled up out of the lobby until he was floating above the hotel. He turned to face Sunnydale and saw the burst of multi-coloured energy speeding towards him. He smiled and opened his hand, showing the silver cross that he had given Neela years before.

"I will see you again," he whispered and snatched his hand shut as the energy hit.

He was in a clearing, as insubstantial as smoke.

John was standing there, an axe in his hands. Neela was crouched in a pentagram and Spike stood by a tree, the Urn placed next to him.

"Goodbye, little sister," John whispered.

"Live well, big brother," Neela replied. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to prepare herself.

Liam stared desperately from one to the other.

John raised the axe. Liam ran forward and tried to force it from his hands, but he passed straight through John.

"_Ducate Granok Jo'Nekra Demonicus,_" John chanted.

Spike wrenched the Urn open as Neela's hand began to glow red. She screamed in agony. The light gushed from her fingers to the Urn and another scream joined hers. A faint image of a demon shimmered in the air between her and the Urn.

"Neela!" Liam screamed. He knew what this was and what was about to happen.

"No!" roared Jo'Nekra. "I will rule all! I will break the child!"

Neela's eyes snapped open. "Go to hell!" she shouted, her eyes defiant despite the pain.

The demon howled as it was sucked away from Neela to the Urn, disappearing into it.

"Now!" John yelled to Spike. The vampire seized the jar and slammed it into a tree, shattering it instantly.

John brought the axe down as Neela screamed again.

"Liam!" she yelled.

The force of the spell threw Spike halfway across the graveyard.

Liam had instinctively thrown up his ghostly hands to shield equally insubstantial eyes. When he looked again, Neela was lying on her back, unmoving, blood staining the grass around her. Her severed hand was a small distance away.

John scrambled to his feet even as Spike did the same.

"Erin!" John called, crawling forward. "Erin!"

Spike grabbed him, pulling him away. "Go!" he shouted.

"She is my sister!" the young man shouted back, struggling as Spike dragged him back.

"No, your sister is dead and has been for a long time." Spike's tone was blunt. "There is nothing that you can do for her now."

John looked at the vampire, clearly weighing his odds. Then he sighed, picking up the axe and a bag. "Take care of her. Please." He left, reluctantly, looking over his shoulder at the motionless figure.

Liam watched, helplessly, as Spike rushed back to Neela, kneeling by her. The vampire pulled off his jacket, gently covering her with it, and then yanked his shirt off, tearing it into long strips.

"Neela?" he asked, as he wrapped the cloth around her wrist. "Neela, talk to me, love."

Her eyes flicked open. "Uncle..."

"Neela, stay awake! Focus!"

"Not... not..."

"Stay awake!" Spike yelled.

Neela's eyes shut and her head lolled to one side, blood trickling from her eyes, ears and nose.

"Neela!" Liam called. "Neela, wake up!"

xxx

Liam jerked awake, breathing heavily. He was lying on a sofa, still in the Hyperion. Above the heptagon, the air crackled with dark energy.

"Oh god," he muttered. "Oh god. Neela."

"Liam?" Wesley said, coming over. "How do you feel?"

Liam didn't answer but sat up, pushing his hair back out of his eyes.

"Maybe you shouldn't move," Cordelia suggested.

Liam ignored her too and stood up, crossing to the phone and starting to dial.

"How long was I out?" he asked.

"Half an hour," Wesley told him. "Liam-"

Liam held up his hand to stop him and concentrated on the phone at the other end of the line that was ringing.

_God, let her answer. Come on, Neela, answer. Just let her be ok._

Finally, someone answered the phone.

"Neela?" he asked. Liam frowned; it wasn't Neela on the other end. _"What happened to her?"_

The gang, scattered around the lobby, watched as Liam listened to whoever was talking. The Irishman went very pale and Angel could see that he was trembling slightly. The phone dropped from his hand and Liam sat down on the floor with a thud.

The gang exchanged worried looks and Gunn hurried forward to take the phone. He listened for a moment.

"No, that's not possible," he said. "Wait-"

The phone went dead and Gunn hung up. He turned to the others, all of whom were still confused.

"She's dead," he said. "She's dead." It sounded like he couldn't believe it himself.

Numbly, Liam was aware of Gunn's horrified expression, the pain and shock on the faces of the others and Angel staring at him.

It was Wesley that broke the shocked silence. "How?"

"The spell she did," Liam said, forcing himself to answer. "To get the energy. It wasn't meant to do that to her. That's not... not possible."

"What spell?" Fred asked.

"To rid herself of the demon," Liam answered listlessly.

"I thought Neela was just a demon," Fred said.

"No, you bloody idiots, she was just possessed!" Liam yelled. It wasn't the whole truth, not even close to, but it was the easiest way to explain the whole stupid situation.

There was shocked silence. Angel remembered all the times he had seen demonic possession and it fit. It explained everything.

"And she finally found an incredibly risky way to get rid of the damn thing and all of a sudden she was willing to kill herself to do a good bloody deed. Possibly just due to the fact that a _vampire _decided she was worse than him!"

"Trying to Unmake a Hunter?" Lorne exploded. "Why the hell did you let her do it?"

"It wasn't my decision. She believed she couldn't live with that thing inside her anymore and who was I to argue with her?" Liam shouted, suddenly furious. "After the great almighty Champion threw her out? You think I wanted her to do this? You think I don't care about her? She was determined to get those kids back, God knows why! I would've left the lot of you to clear up after your own mess."

"It was Neela's fault Connor and Caitlin were sent there in the first place," Cordelia said.

"Is that what you all tell yourselves at night to keep the bad dreams away? You all needed someone to blame, so you chose the person that none of you cared about."

"I did care about her!" Gunn said. "She lied to us, remember?"

"About something that you would have killed her for! What the hell did you expect her to tell someone who hunted demons for a living? You see things too damn simply, you idiot! Having a soul does not make you a good person and vice versa. Look at your green buddy here, for God's sake!"

"She should've told me!" said Gunn.

"Why? Did you ever give her a reason to, or even a chance to?"

Liam turned and made to leave the lobby, but Wesley called him back.

"What about the portal?"

"When the piece of jade explodes, the gateway will close itself back up. I'm not sure when that'll be. In an hour, maybe, the hole will be big enough for the twins to get through. It's microscopic at the moment. If you need to close it again sooner than that, I left some instructions in the office. And I hope you burn in hell," he said, looking at Angel.

Liam left, slamming the door behind him. Immediately, Gunn followed, bursting through the door.

"Liam, she can't be dead," he called after him. "You know something that you're not telling."

Liam stopped moving, but didn't turn around. "Neela's dead. She died for you and your stupid boss in a desperate attempt to make amends. I don't know much about you and, frankly, I don't give a rat's arse. But she held you in pretty high regard, which is the only reason I'm not beating you to a pulp right now. I'm asking you to just let her rest in peace. Just go back to your wonderfully simple world with your oh-so-perfect soul and stay the hell away from me."

Gunn stood there, watching Liam as he walked away. Slowly, he turned and went back into the hotel.

Lorne leant against the reception desk, idly tidying up some of Liam's notes. Maybe Wesley would want them. It was strange. Cleaning was Lorne's first reaction to a shock. This had definitely been a shock. Finally Lorne picked up a small envelope, and it was addressed to him. Curious as to what Neela would have left him, Lorne opened it. A low chuckle escaped from his lips.

"Neela sent me the deeds to an old club a couple of blocks away," Lorne explained to a startled Fred. "She must've heard I was looking for a new place."

Gunn was just sitting on the sofa, feeling numb. He couldn't believe that Neela was dead. He realised that he had known hardly anything about her, not really. Neela was dead and the last time that he had spoken to her, all they had done was argue.

Angel shared a look with Gunn. The old street rat looked shocked and a little lost. Not to mention confused. Angel definitely knew where he was coming from. The air above where he was sitting was crackling and rippling and somewhere Neela was lying dead.

Wesley stood up quietly, and took the sheaf of papers from Lorne's green hand. Going into the office, he shut the door behind him. Stupid girl! Why hadn't Neela talked to them about this? There must have been other ways to find the energy for Liam's spell.

Wesley tucked the notes into a drawer. Then he put his head in his hands and let the tears come.

Out in the lobby, the crack in the air spilled opened. The lights across the entire hotel snapped out, plunging everyone into darkness.

Two pairs of feet hit the floor.


	14. Chapter 14

Angel had leapt to his feet when the lights went out. Thanks to his good memory and better hearing, Angel could pinpoint everyone's location even in almost total darkness.

There were seven people in the room.

Angel thought for a split second, then raised his voice. "Is everyone all right?"

Wesley called out from the office and the five other members of Angel Investigations answered from various parts of the lobby. That meant two intruders. Cautiously, Angel sniffed the air. Two humans. They weren't children, they were old.

"Connor?" he whispered. "Caitlin?"

Someone brushed against him and Angel snapped his arm out, trying to catch hold of them. On the other side of the room, Cordelia yelped as someone trod on her foot.

"Gunn, watch it!" she moaned, rubbing her foot.

"That wasn't me," Gunn said. "Do you think-?"

Angel's blindly searching arm caught hold of a person. Whoever it was, they didn't take kindly to being grabbed. They rammed an elbow into Angel's face and, when that didn't make him let go, turned and slammed a foot into the side of his knee. The second stranger pulled Angel away from the first and he heard them both run towards the door.

"Wait!" he yelled as the door opened, briefly showing the outlines of two figures against the LA street, and closed with a thud.

He leapt after them as the lights flicked on again. Wesley had come out of the office with slightly red eyes and the others were standing around, totally gob-smacked. Lorne hurried to block Angel's path.

"Whoa, Angel-cakes," he said, holding up his hands soothingly. "How about we calm down?"

"Lorne, that could've been them," Angel cried.

"Or it could have been an icky slime monster," Cordelia said. "Lorne's right. We need to think about this."

"Think about what?" Angel said, frustrated.

"The portal won't just let your children through," Wesley said. "Demons, other humans, things we don't have a name for, anything could get through."

"Other humans?" Fred said. "I though Quor'toth was a hell dimension?"

"So is Pylea, my little Fredikins," Lorne reminded her. "Humans get everywhere."

"So what do we do?" Gunn asked.

"Someone needs to stay here, watch the portal. Liam gave me a way to close it if we have to, but we can't until we're sure Connor and Caitlin got through," Wesley explained. "I'll stay here with Cordelia and Lorne, you and Fred could-"

Fred jumped as the portal crackled again and the lights flickered for a second. "Uh, incoming," she said.

Angel snatched up a sword as the others armed themselves. He really hoped it would be something he could fight.

A young girl fell out of the air and to the floor, landing on her back. A wooden staff clattered on the ground next to her. She stared around at them all, standing over her with weapons in their hands, and quickly flipped back onto her feet, moving away from them.

Gunn looked from the girl to Angel. There was no mistaking her.

"Angel?" he said.

"I know," was the quiet reply. Angel stepped forward, lowering the sword. "Caitlin?"

The girl's eyes flashed at the word and she snatched up the staff from where it had fallen. Her eyes darted from one person to another, all the while backing away.

The portal crackled once more and this time a boy fell to the floor. Unlike the girl, he twisted in the air and landed on his feet. He was almost identical to the girl.

"Show off," she muttered.

"Connor? My god, it's really you," Angel said, instinctively moving forward, dropping the sword completely.

The twins, just as instinctively, moved back. The boy had a rough looking crossbow with three chambers and a curved blade was strapped to his left wrist. His face was covered in grime and there were shadows under his eyes. His hair was longish, but short enough not to get in his eyes. The eyes themselves were dark brown with anger and determination clear in them. The boy stepped half in front of the girl and raised the crossbow.

"Hi, Dad," he said. He fired the crossbow twice, aiming right for Angel's heart. Angel, reacting to a sign he hadn't known he had been waiting for, knocked the first stake out of the air and grabbed the second one before it could more than puncture the skin above his heart.

The boy fired again, but this time Angel dodged the stake completely. Cordy threw him another sword even as the boy threw the crossbow to the girl. Angel caught the sword just in time to block the boy's blade. The boy swung again and Angel jumped back to avoid it.

Gunn grabbed a weapon and advanced on the girl, leaving Angel and Wes to deal with the boy. She backed off slightly, eyes flitting from him to Angel to the boy, still holding the crossbow.

"Look, can't we just talk about this?" Angel yelled as the boy spun round and jumped, aiming for Angel's throat. Angel blocked him again and used his free arm to block a punch. They ended up back to back. The boy slammed his blade forward again and Angel blocked him again. He barely registered the boy's grunt of "no" as he felt an elbow being driven into his back with enough force to knock him off his feet.

The girl spun the staff in one hand and swung it at Gunn. He ducked, only to be met by her fist in his face. He fell back as Wes moved in on Connor with a weapon in his hands. The girl threw the crossbow and it hit Wes in the face, knocking him back.

The boy grabbed Angel's ankle and pulled him forward, bringing the blade down again. Angel brought both feet up and kicked the boy in the chest, sending him flipping back onto the ground. Angel scrambled to his feet as the boy flipped back onto his feet. The girl ran forward to stand at his back as Gunn, Angel and Wes circled them.

"Look, everyone just calm down," Angel said.

His words were ignored as Wesley charged the pair. The girl kicked him in the gut, and dropped the staff to grab hold of him and shove him into Angel. Gunn raised his weapon as the girl hooked her foot under the staff and flicked it back into her hands.

"Angel, if Peter Pan here don't stop-"

The boy jump-kicked Gunn in the face, cutting him off mid-sentence and sending him crashing onto the floor. The boy dived in, raising the blade on his arm even as Angel ran forward. The girl jerked forward as well, only to be stopped when Wes grabbed her from behind, twisting her wrist to make her drop the staff.

Angel slammed the hilt into the boy's shoulder and pulled him back from Gunn, throwing the boy to the floor and dropping the sword. A swift punch to the jaw stopped the boy from getting up and Angel grabbed the blade on his arm, forcing it down to touch his throat. The boy stared into his eyes for a moment and Angel could see the fear almost hidden in them. He pulled the blade off the boy's wrist and threw it behind them.

Angel slowly stood back and offered his hand to the boy, who ignored it and clambered to his feet. The girl was still struggling in Wesley's hold.

Angel nodded to Wesley, who released the girl. She shoved Wesley away from her and cautiously came forward to stand next to the boy, grabbing her staff and the blade.

Angel looked properly at her for the first time. She was dressed in the same rough clothes as the boy with the same short hair. Her tunic of animal skins had no sleeves but she had wrist and arm guards covering her forearms and the backs of her hands, leaving her fingers bare. There were a few pouches tied at her waist. The boy had a trophy belt of beads and bones going diagonally across his chest and Angel could see a glimmer of gold around the girl's neck. Both looked tired and hungry, with a large amount of anger in their eyes as well. Not to mention the deeply buried fear.

The pair backed away slightly until they were at the bottom of the stairs to the door. Angel stepped forward automatically and they both tensed.

"Connor? Caitlin?" he said quietly. "It's ok."

The boy never took his eyes off Angel. "Cait,-"

Whatever he said next was drowned out by the demonic roar that sliced through the lobby. Everyone jumped and Angel spun around.

The demon that fell out of the portal was tall, ugly and covered in spikes.

"Merciful Zeus," yelped Lorne, falling over the sofa in his attempt to get away.

Angel leapt forward, only to be thrown into the wall by one of the demon's claws. Gunn charged, a sword in his hands and managed to run the demon through.

"Not so tough now, are you?" he said, ripping the sword out.

The demon touched the wound in its chest and Gunn watched in horror as the hole instantly closed up.

"No way-"

The demon roared again and threw Gunn into Wesley, hard enough to send them both crashing into the stairs, narrowly missing the twins.

Caitlin sighed and picked up the sword that Angel had dropped. "Go kill," she told her brother, handing him the sword.

The demon ignored the men and turned to a very scared Fred. She backed away as it raised its claw once again.

Connor leapt forward and blocked the claw, spinning around to slice the demon across its back and legs.

Caitlin grabbed the stake-launcher and pulled three knives out of her boots. The handles had been smoothed and rounded. She loaded them into the stake launcher and aimed carefully.

Connor was still dancing around the demon, nimbly dodging its claws. "Caitlin," he called.

"Duck," Caitlin yelled back.

Connor threw himself across the room, rolling over. Caitlin fired off the three knives as the demon threw back its head and roared. All of the knives buried themselves in the creature's forehead and it roared again, this time in pain.

As it fell to the floor, blood spilling out of its body, Connor got to his feet and came to stand next to his sister.

The lobby was a wreck. Again. The sofa had been overturned, there were demon blood and guts all over the place and various humans groaning on the floor.

"Father's going to _kill_ us," Connor muttered.

"Well, that makes a nice change," Caitlin replied. She glanced at the stunned Angel, with Cordelia crouching over him, and lowered her voice. "Was I right? Were they here?"

Connor nodded. "Recently. They went that way."

Lorne popped his head over the top of the sofa. "Is it over?"

"All over," Gunn said, his arm around Fred. "Our newly-returned hell-spawn took care of it."

"Hey," Angel said. "They are not hell-spawn. And I'm fairly certain that we've had this conversation before."

Gunn suppressed a grin as Wesley stood up and hunted around for his glasses. "By the sofa, English," he offered.

"Um, speaking of the kids, where are they?" Cordelia asked.

Angel spun around. The twins were gone, the door half open. He started running, easily following their scent, and disappeared into the night.

"Uh oh," said Fred.

xxx

"You're sure they came this way?" Caitlin asked, looking around the LA sewer.

"No, I'm not," Connor snapped. "I can barely track in this stench."

"You remember in the scum pits?" Caitlin said, grinning. "You fell in-"

"Cait, I love you dearly, but if you don't stop talking about that, I will have to kill you."

"Whatever you say, Destroyer."

"Numbskull."

"Sluk-face."

"And you claim to be the mature one," Connor said. Caitlin smiled, but it was forced. "Chin up, Cait. We'll find them, I promise. Well, if Angelus doesn't find us first."

"And you claim to be the optimistic one."

Connor hesitated at a turning, trying to smell anything other than the sewer.

"What is it?" Caitlin asked.

Connor looked at her, worried. "A vampire. It's him. Do you have any weapons left?"

"A knife or two, that's it. We dumped the rest of it. What do we do?"

"Connor? Caitlin?" Angel called from the tunnel they were facing.

"Run," Connor said, grabbing her arm and pulling her along.

"What about the trail? Our duty is to Father."

Connor didn't answer and concentrated on putting us much distance between his sister and that monster as possible. He couldn't care less about their 'Father'; let him see how he liked being abandoned. They raced down tunnels, sliding through much and slime and fighting to stay on their feet.

When Caitlin spotted a small flight of stairs with a doorway at the top, Connor raced up them and forced the rusty door open. They fell through and Connor tried to push it shut again. Caitlin came to help and they managed to slam the door just as Angel reached the bottom of the stairs.

The twins leant against the door as Angel started to hammer on it, calling to them.

"Doesn't this guy give up?" Caitlin muttered.

Connor was staring around the room, searching for anything that they could use to jam the door. There was nothing.

"This is bad," he said.

"What isn't?"

"Well, at least things can't get much worse," Connor said.

Three lizard-like demons came out of the shadows, hissing in their own language.

Caitlin gave her brother an exasperated look. "You know this is your fault, Con."

Another small group of demons slunk out of the shadows, making about a dozen demons. It was only a matter of moments before they spotted Connor and Caitlin.

"Caitlin, do you trust me?"

"Always."

"I'm going to open the door and let Angelus in. You run out and shut the door, then run. You can pick up their trail, get help," Connor said, quickly. They didn't have much time.

Caitlin looked terrified. "I can't."

"You can, because I say you can. God smiles on you, Cait, remember?" he said, reaching forward to pull the gold cross she had always had out of her tunic.

"But He laughs with you. I can't track like you. I can't fight like you. Connor, please-"

"You are going to run and find Father and Justine. Then you're going to come back and help me beat Angelus to a fine paste. Understood?" Connor put just a touch of an order into his words. "I have to stay here to stop him, ok? I'll keep him here. He won't be able to come after you."

"I'm scared," Caitlin whispered.

"So am I. But we have to be brave, play the game, remember? We're too big to be scared anymore."

"You might be, but I'm not."

Connor was only a handful of centimetres taller than Caitlin, and no one knew which one of them was the elder, but he had always been the big brother. They had only spent six terrifying days apart since they were born and the fear on Caitlin's face was breaking his heart. But he had promised himself that nothing would ever hurt her. He hardened his heart, ignoring the voice that screamed at him to keep her close, and put his hand on the door handle.

"I'm opening this door in three seconds. Get ready."

Caitlin obediently moved back from the door and crouched on the balls of her feet, ready to run. Connor took a deep breath and leapt back, pulling the door open.

Angel, who had been tying to force the door open since they had shut it, almost fell in. Caitlin jumped over him as he staggered through the door and then was down the stairs and running before Connor had slammed the door again.

"What the hell is going on?" Angel yelled.

Connor cursed softly as the demons all perked up their heads at the noise. They started to lumber over to the door.

"Well done," Connor said testily.

He didn't wait for an answer but ploughed into the demons. Angel hurried after him. The demons were slow and rather stupid and Connor was glad to find that even in this world there were demons he could kill. He ignored Angel when it became clear that the vampire was simply fighting the demons and concentrated on beating the nearest lizard-thing to a pulp.

When all the demons were down, Angel turned to Connor.

"What are you playing at?" he asked, angry.

Connor didn't understand how fighting demons was 'playing', so he didn't answer. His silence seemed to provoke a different approach from the vampire.

"Connor? Are you ok? Please, just, just talk to me."

When Connor still ignored him, Angel reached forward and caught his arm. The result was instantaneous. Connor spun round, hitting Angel in the face with his free hand. Angel hung on and Connor hit him again.

"Connor, calm down."

Connor slammed his foot into Angel's instep and managed to break free. He was half way to the door when Angel grabbed him behind. Connor found himself forced up against the wall with one of his arms twisted up behind his back. It wasn't quite hard enough to hurt, though. Just enough to stop him from working his arm free again.

"I am not going to let you go out there and get in any more trouble. Understand?" Angel said. He tightened his hold as Connor started to struggle again. "Understand?" he repeated.

Connor stopped. "Fine," he muttered.

Angel let go and stepped back slightly. Connor turned around to face him, still on his guard.

"Where's Caitlin?" Angel asked.

Connor's eyes flashed. "You stay away from her."

"I'm not going to hurt either of you, Connor, but we need to find her."

"She can take care of herself."

"I'm not denying you're both good fighters, but LA is very different to Quor'toth."

"And how would you know that?" Connor said sharply.

"Look, I know you're angry with me, Connor. I am so sorry that I couldn't look after you, that you had to grow up in a place like that-"

Connor was shaking his head. "You have no idea. Now get out of my way."

"I know we haven't gotten off to a great start here, but if we could just-"

Connor threw Angel back just as the last demon, the one that Angel hadn't noticed, stabbed forward with its claw. It caught Connor right in the shoulder.

Angel rolled back up as Connor screamed in pain. Connor slammed his good arm into the side of the demon's head and Angel pulled the demon away from his son.

The demon and Angel fought as Connor desperately tried to stop the blood streaming down his arm.

xxx

In another part of the sewers, Caitlin skidded to a halt. Her face creased in confusion as her shoulder throbbed in pain. Then she realised, looking back the way she had come.

Connor's scream ripped through the air.

Caitlin started running again, heading straight for her brother. For the first time, she was grateful for the strange lights above her. Bad things happen when you're alone in the dark.

xxx

Angel snapped the demon's neck, almost twisting its head right off. He dropped the dead body and turned around. Connor was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall.

Angel crouched down next to him. "Connor, are you ok?"

"I just got stabbed by a giant lizard for a person I might want to kill. Of course I'm not ok," Connor gasped. "Stay away from me. I can take care of myself."

"Just let me look at it, ok?" Angel said, gently pulling Connor's hand away from the wound. It was nasty, deep and with some traces of slime in there. He looked at Connor's thin face and thought about what he had just said. _'For a person I might want to kill'. _

"When was the last time you ate anything?" he asked finally.

Connor shrugged, trying to ignore the pain from his bad arm. "I don't know. Not that long ago."

"Yeah, you can really take care of yourself. Come on," Angel said, helping Connor to his feet. "We're going back to the hotel."

"What? You-"

"Don't argue with me, Connor. We're going to the hotel and that's that."

"Fine, but-"

"Do you ever stop arguing?"

"No. And I have to go now."

Angel sighed. "You're bleeding. You're fresh out of a hell dimension and you haven't eaten since God knows when. You won't last five minutes in LA."

"And Caitlin's been alone in LA for about ten minutes now."

"We'll find her, ok? But first we need to make sure you're all right, so we should go back to the others."

As Angel put his arm around Connor and helped him out of the sewers, he didn't notice the two figures watching them from the shadows.

"That didn't work out as it was meant to," said Justine.

"There's still the girl," Holtz replied.

They had managed to find some more conventional clothes for a LA street, but both were older, more scarred for their time in Quor'toth.

"Caitlin? Daniel, she's the calm one. There's no way you can get her to kill Angelus. Connor's the impulsive fighter. I know the girl loves you, but she's not ready. You focused too much on the boy."

"Maybe, but Caitlin will fight, given the right incentive."

"What incentive?"

"Let's see, impressive scream from Connor, blood on the ground, murderous vampire last seen here."

"You can't be serious. Daniel, she will never believe that Connor is dead. She's not that stupid."

"I feel it is time to find out just how stupid Caitlin is."

xxx

Caitlin burst into the empty room.

"Connor?" she called. "Connor!"

There was no answer and Caitlin felt her heartbeat speed up as the fear doubled. She forced herself to take slow breaths. Fear didn't help anyone.

"Play the game," she whispered to herself. "Just got to play the game."

As she turned around, Caitlin saw the blood. It was smeared down one wall, a small pool of it on the floor. She knew it was blood, she could smell it. As her nose processed the smell, she felt the panic welling up again.

"Connor."

xxx

Huge apologies for the delay in updating - coursework and GCSE orals kinda ruined my life for a minute there. As always, please review!


	15. Chapter 15

When they had reached the Hyperion, it was apparently empty. Angel had called ahead, asking the others to give Connor some space. He didn't want the kid to freak out. So Gunn and Fred had headed out to try and find some trace of Caitlin, with Lorne going out to see his new club and Cordelia staying the hotel to sort out some records. Wesley had just disappeared into his office, firmly shutting the door behind him.

Connor came out of the shower in Angel's rooms, dressed in jeans that Cordelia had found for him and with his hair all over the place. His arms and torso were covered in old scars and newer bruises. Angel couldn't help staring.

"What?" Connor asked.

"Tough life," Angel said quietly.

"It was a hell dimension," Connor replied. "It wasn't meant to be easy."

He reached forward for bandages and started to wrap them around his shoulder. Angel came to help and Connor moved away again.

"I don't need your help," he said, tying the bandage tight. He picked up a T-shirt and pulled it on. One of Angel's, it was too big for him, but it would have to do until Cordy could go shopping for him.

Angel backed off, leaning against the wall as Connor sat down. "What was it like there?" he asked.

Connor picked up the stake launcher from the table. "I told you. It was a hell dimension."

"Right. Uh, where did you find that little gadget?" Angel asked, trying again. He needed to know something, anything about his children's life there.

"She made it."

"Caitlin makes weapons?"

"Uh huh. Well, some of them. Some things she traded for and then adapted." Connor peered down one of the cylinders of the stake launcher and frowned at the damage.

"Traded with demons?"

"There were other humans there. Not many, but a few. This is useless. It needs Caitlin's skills," Connor said, tossing the launcher back onto the table. He picked up the wrist blade and started to lace it on.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting ready to go after my sister."

"You need to rest-"

"Stop talking like you're my father!" Connor said angrily. He stood up, missing the look of pain of Angel's face in his own anger. "She is out there on her own."

"And you're too weak to be much use," Angel said firmly. "I can probably track her. I'll find her, I promise, but I need you to stay here."

"You have got to be joking. "

Angel came forward, put his hands on Connor's shoulders and made him sit down again. "I am going to go find Caitlin. You are going to stay here and get some sleep. Clear?"

"Do I have a choice?" Connor muttered, but he did sit back.

"I promise she'll be ok." Angel smiled at his son and walked to the door.

"She'd better be."

Outside his room, Angel leant against the wall. His son was back and he was a young man now. All grown up. And Angel had missed it. All of it. And Angel had no idea who his son was anymore.

He did what he always did when he had to deal with humans. He went to Cordelia.

"How's Connor?" she asked, looking up from a pile of filing.

"Quiet. Angry. Maybe confused."

"Sounds good."

"That's good?"

"Angel, he grew up in a hell dimension with a man that hates you. At least he's not trying to kill you right now."

"Is Wesley still here?" Angel asked, trying to change the topic. Of course, it didn't work. This was Cordelia.

"I think so, but who cares about him? Angel, this is about your son."

"Well, like I said, he's angry with me."

"And?"

"He said I'm not his father."

"Makes sense. I guess he would think as Holtz as his father, or at least his father-figure."

"Holtz is not his father! He's his kidnapper!" Angel yelled.

Cordy seemed un-impressed with Angel's outburst. "Angel, this isn't about the truth. This is about how your son views your worst enemy and how he sees you."

"How he sees me?"

"Sweetie, you're stupid, but not that stupid. Would Holtz have taught your children about the vampire who has gotten off the liquid diet or the monster that killed his wife and children?"

"God, you're right. He thinks I'm a killer. How am I going to convince him that I've changed?"

Cordelia shrugged. "Maybe by finding the one person we know he cares about."

Angel nodded thoughtfully. "I know she was in the sewers. I'll start there, follow her trail."

He wandered towards the basement – and the sewers access – as Wesley came out of his office.

"I see it's going well," he said to Cordelia, who shrugged.

"He's not dust yet, so I'm happy." Her eyes were still fixed on Angel. "Wes, it's some god-awful time in the morning. What are you doing here?"

"Research," he said shortly, then with a sideways look at Cordy, added, "Connor had better watch his back."

"What?"

"I've seen that expression before."

"What expression?"

"The one that threatens to be extremely violent to anyone who tries to hurt Angel in the other than physical way. Cordy, I've known you for four years, worked with Angel for three and I know you two are getting close. Say something before someone beats you to it," Wesley said, pulling out some folders from under the desk. "Do you mind if I take the folder on Neela?"

Cordelia, still speechless with surprise, could only shake her head.

"Good. I probably won't come in tomorrow, well, today but later. The spell will end in an hour or so, but you shouldn't leave it unattended."

Cordy forced her vocal chords to co-operate. "Wes?"

"Yes?"

"Couldn't you shut the portal now? The twins are through, so..."

"Well, I had thought about studying it for a while-"

"Wes!"

"-but I'll forego that treat. Where's the jade?"

Cordelia fetched the stone, passing it to Wesley.

"Should I get behind something?" she asked, looking nervously at the portal.

"No need. It's a fairly simple procedure," Wesley said, weighing the jade in his hands. He cleared his throat and put the jade on the floor. As Cordelia quickly moved behind the desk, he raised one foot and slammed it into the jade. After a few blows, the stone broke and the portal crackled, shrinking and resealing itself.

Cordelia peered over the desk. "Is that it?"

xxx

Connor had stayed where Angel had left him, but more out of confusion that anything else. This strange vampire who wanted to know about Quor'toth didn't seem to be anything to do with the monster Holtz had talked about. And there was something weird in the vampire's eyes, something Connor could quite place.

As much as Connor hated to admit it, he could see Caitlin (and so there must be a bit of him there too) in the vampire. The same sort of face, so different from Holtz's, same unruly hair. The same slightly pathetic, incredibly hurt expression that he had seen on Caitlin's face far too often.

And then it hit him. Where he had seen that look in Angel's eyes. It was almost the way Caitlin looked at him, a mixture of exasperation and love.

It was strange. Connor found the idea of anyone but Caitlin caring for him, let alone loving him, slightly disturbing. He had always known that for all that Holtz called himself their father, the man had no true love for them. He had prayed for a years to a God he had no belief in to stop Caitlin from realising that, even though she had sparked the events that led him to that conclusion.

They were about seven when it happened. They had been out hunting with Holtz when a group of demons attacked them. Connor and Holtz had beaten them back, but Caitlin had been too scared to fight. Holtz had been furious with her.

That night he had taken her out of the cave they lived in, taken her a long way away and then tied her to a tree and left her there. Then he took Connor and Justine and moved on to find a new place to live. It was six days before she found her way back.

Connor had been so angry when he realised what Holtz had done. It was the only time he could remember standing up to Holtz over anything. He had been through these 'tests' himself, one every six months or so since he was about five. But Caitlin having to do it was different. Wrong. So he stood up and argued and eventually tried to hit Holtz. Big mistake. The bruises Holtz left didn't fade for weeks, even with his excellent healing.

It made no difference. Caitlin had to endure the tests, and the next time Connor did it, she went with him. A seven year old Connor had passed it off as a game, telling Caitlin over and over that all they had to do was play along and everything would be ok. After that, things were never the same. Neither of them ever talked about it again, not after Caitlin was safely back with Connor. He wasn't even sure she still remembered it.

But Connor still dreamed about it.

Well, had nightmares about it.

xxx

Wesley left the Hyperion, his bag stuffed with books and the folder on Neela. He remembered thinking that it was unnecessary when Angel had tentatively suggested it. But he hadn't objected. Not one of them had, not even Gunn. None of them had really trusted her and now she was dead. Another soldier down. It was strange. Wesley had at least vague ideas of why all of them were fighting, but not one reason for Neela. From what she'd told him, he had the feeling that she didn't know herself.

He felt so out of place. Part of him knew that he should have been exiled from the group with Neela, but he hadn't. Part of him wished he had been. Part of him was pathetically grateful she had taken the fall for him.

Wesley was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the girl watching him from a small distance away. As he started to walk home, Caitlin moved after him, being careful to keep her distance.

xxx

Caitlin had managed to track Wesley back to his home, but beyond that she had no idea of what to do. She was good at fighting and making weapons, but her social skills were hardly brilliant. She snuck around to the back of the building, peering in at every window.

When she found the right one, Caitlin hesitated. Wesley was meant to be an ally of Angelus, who was meant to be evil, so he was properly evil too. Who knew what sort of things could be in there?

She peered through the window. The guy definitely had a lot of books. A few of them had to mention Angelus, or whatever the guy was now. Caitlin ducked down as Wesley entered the room. He had a book in his hands.

Wesley jumped as the phone rang. He put the book down and lifted the receiver.

"Angel? Yes, of course. I'll head out now."

Caitlin could hardly believe her luck as Wesley gathered up some things and left the apartment. She counted to a hundred under her breath to make sure he was gone before using one of her knives to jimmy open the window. She glanced at the desk, turning a large notebook towards her. The top page was covered with disjointed phrases that meant nothing to Caitlin. What did a clan have to do with anything?

Hoping the man's other books would be easier to make sense of, Caitlin turned to the bookshelves that covered one wall. Most of the books in the room were in languages Caitlin had never seen, but there were some in English. She grabbed a few of those at random and crossed to the desk. All of the ones she had chosen seemed to be nothing more than lists of different demons, with no mention of Angelus or Angel. She wasn't that good a reader and the books weren't easy reading, so it was difficult for her to do much more than merely skim through the large tomes.

As Caitlin turned to put the books back on the shelf, she heard something fall to the ground. She knelt to pick it up and found it was a large notebook. Turning it over, she found 'Angel' written on the front. It wasn't one of the books she had taken. She looked around quickly and saw similar books on a shelf under the desk. One of them was labelled 'Darla', another 'Connor and Caitlin'.

Caitlin had seen her name written before, but mostly just scratched in the dust, not on a strange book belonging to friend of Angelus. It was more than a little creepy. She opened the one about Angelus, quickly scanning the first page.

_The vampire Angelus was born as Liam in Galway, Ireland, in 1727. Little is known about his early life, but he believed to have been sired in 1753 by the vampire Darla, who gave him the name 'Angelus'. He massacred his entire village, including his own family, and proceeded to cut a bloody path through Wales and England with a death count reaching..._

On and on it went, listing the atrocities that Angelus had committed over generations. Feeling sick, Caitlin shut the book. It looked like Holtz had been right; she had even found mention of the murder of his family at the hands of Angelus. The book about Darla had less information, but it still made Caitlin's stomach turn.

Finally, with a feeling of dread, she reached for her and her brother's book. She opened it to a centre page and froze.

_The Father _

_Will Kill_

_The Son_

The blood in the sewer...

Caitlin stood up, shaking. She quickly ripped out the page and stuffed it in a pouch tied to her belt. A noise outside the room made her tense and she ran silently to the window.

xxx

The dream was always the same.

"_Bad things happen when you're alone in the dark."_

Connor was running through the forests of Quor'toth.

"_Bad things happen when you're alone in the dark."_

She was close-by, he knew she was. He always knew where she was and she was so near. So why couldn't he see her? Why wasn't she running along next to him?

"_Bad things happen when you're alone in the dark."_

Connor would find her. He was good at finding her. He had always found her.

"_Bad things happen when you're alone in the dark."_

Caitlin was alone in the dark.

And something bad was happening to her.

Connor saw the tree, the demons, the blood...

"_Connor, please!_"

Connor snapped awake, fighting back the urge to scream.

"Caitlin!"

The word escaped before he could pull it back, just has it had almost every night for the last decade. But this time, Caitlin wasn't there to sleepily murmur a reply, or hit him for waking her up.

"Connor? Are you all right?" Angel asked. He was sitting opposite Connor, looking concerned. And Connor didn't want to see a concerned vampire, he wanted to see his annoyed sister.

"I thought you were looking for her," Connor said, forcing his breathing to slow.

"I went back to the sewers, but the trail was too weak. I thought when you were ready, we could try together."

"Great. I'm ready." Connor stood up.

"Connor..."

"_What?_" The boy's tone was defensive with just a touch of anger. Quite a large touch.

"You sure you're ok? You seem a bit..."

"I just need to find her, ok? So can we go?"

Angel nodded. "Sure."

xxx

Caitlin stopped running when she was safely underground again. It was starting to get light outside and there were too many people. She wanted the open space of Quor'toth, but that wasn't an option. For a second Caitlin leant against a wall and let herself tremble. She didn't want open space. She wanted Connor standing next to her.

Caitlin pulled herself together and pulled the scrap of paper out of her pocket.

_The Father _

_Will Kill_

_The Son_

She didn't know if it was a prophecy or a plan or just a stray thought written down but those words scared her. For some reason, that man had written that Angel was going to kill Connor and there had been blood in the sewer.

Caitlin was the thinker. She always had been, with Connor gladly becoming the brawn to her brains. She was less passionate than her brother, having taught herself to think things through calmly rather than hit the nearest demon until things got back to normal. And the small cogs of her brain were spinning. Caitlin started fiddling with her gold cross, trying to concentrate.

Right. Look for the facts.

There had been Connor's blood in that room, and quite a lot of it.

Connor was missing.

Angelus had been in that room with Connor.

Angelus was a killer.

Now, turn the facts around until they feel right.

Yes, there was a lot of blood. But a lifetime in a hell dimension let's you learn just how much blood a person can lose before they die and it was a hell of a lot more than there was in that room.

Yes, Connor was missing. But Caitlin hadn't been looking anywhere for him, had she?

Angelus had been in that room, but that didn't mean anything. And there had been the other demons, the ones that had been there when Caitlin was. Too many killers for so little blood.

Angelus...

Why did the name feel wrong? He had always been Angelus to them. Why did she have the feeling that he had another name? When had she heard it?

"Caitlin."

Caitlin jerked around to see Justine standing behind her, dressed in the clothes of this world. It was strange seeing her without her normal animal skins and sword.

"Justine! Where have you been?"

"Around. When we got through the portal, Angelus was there. We had to move," Justine replied. "Where's the wonder boy?"

"I don't know. We got separated."

"We'll have to find him then, won't we?" Justine said. "Come on. Daniel's waiting for us."

"Father? Is he ok?"

"He's fine. I think he's a bit worried about you, though," Justine lied. "We shouldn't keep him waiting."

xxx

It was with a mixture of pride and envy that Angel watched Connor pick up Caitlin's scent. Part of him wanted to clap Connor on the back, like any other father congratulating his son, but he knew that Connor wouldn't take it kindly. And part of him flinched at the thought that he didn't know his own daughter's scent.

Connor led the way down various tunnels, ignoring Angel. No wonder Angel had had trouble following the trail. Caitlin knew how to hide her scent and was better at it than Connor. Luckily, Connor didn't need to track her to know she had been here. Most of the time in Quor'toth he had been able to tell exactly where she was all the time. It was one of those advantages of being twins, he supposed.

"Do you still have the trail?" Angel asked.

Connor glanced at him. "Yeah. Yeah, I got it. Pretty strong." He frowned. "Can you hear that?"

Angel strained to hear. "People talking in a sewer?"

Connor walked forward, being careful not to make any noise. "She's there and-"

"Where's the wonder boy?" a voice asked, the noise drifting down the tunnel.

"Justine," Connor finished. "Shit!"

Angel was surprised to hear him swear. "Where the hell did you learn language like that?"

"In hell," Connor answered. "This is not good. This is really not good."

"Why?"

"Justine means Holtz."

"And that's bad? I thought you wanted to find him."

Connor, a complete stranger to subtlety and hints, didn't catch the odd tone in Angel's voice. "Caitlin did. Frankly, I could live with never seeing him again. I think they've left."

Connor started to move forward again, but Angel put a hand on his arm. For the first time, Connor didn't jerk away. "Wait a minute. You don't like Holtz?"

Connor hesitated, obviously unsure how to answer. It was all the answer Angel needed.

"Why not?" Angel asked softly.

"It doesn't matter."

"It does to me," Angel said, narrowing his eyes and inhaled deeply. "Now, that's weird."

"What?" Connor asked.

"I'm just wondering what would scare a kid fresh out of a hell-dimension."

Connor's head jerked around.

"It's her fear, isn't it? Not that you're not scared too. What's wrong?"

Connor hesitated again. "She scared because of him. Because he tried to hurt her. We were seven years old and he made her go out on her own and stay out for days. I nearly lost her and he barely noticed," he gabbled, talking almost too fast to follow. Angel stared in horror. "I knew we should've stayed in Quor'toth. With him gone, we could've had a quiet life."

Angel managed to shake his head. "No. I'm glad you came back."

"Now that is weird." Connor grinned for just a moment, but then he blushed, frowning to cover it up and starting walking again.

"Good to know you can do that too," Angel said quietly.

"What happened to you?" Connor asked, spinning around again. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"I was cursed."

"Cursed to be nice to me?"

"No, with my soul. I was evil, but I'm not anymore. Well, not as evil at any rate."

Connor looked confused. "When?"

"About a hundred years ago. After I killed Holtz family."

"So you didn't try to rip my throat out when I was little?"

Angel hesitated. "Well, it's complicated."

"Did you or didn't you? Holtz likes to say he took us from you for our own good. Is that true or not? And no lying."

"There was a demon that wanted you dead, well actually, there were a lot of people that wanted you away from me, but this one demon almost managed to make me hurt you."

"What stopped you?"

"A girl with a mean right hook and a hell of an attitude."

Connor thought about the two women he had seen in the hotel. Neither of them looked particularly strong. "Who?"

"She was called Neela," Angel said quietly. "She died yesterday." And for the first time, he was sorry about what he had said to Neela. About what he had done to her. About everything.

"Demon?" Connor asked.

"I'm not sure how it happened. She... wasn't here when she died."

"But she was there when we were little? How long have we been gone, anyway?"

"About a fortnight, from my point of view, anyway."

"Huh. So, in a fortnight, she left and then got killed? Why'd she leave?"

_Because I told her to get out._ "You know, you ask a lot of questions."

"Just figuring things out."

"But I could be lying to you."

"People tend to lie with as much of the truth as possible. Makes it more believable. So, if you lie enough, I should still get to the truth."

"What truth?"

Connor shrugged. "Which of my supposed 'fathers' is the evil one."

"Oh. Who's winning?"

xxx

Many, many thanks to everyone who's reviewed. More will be coming soon, I promise...


	16. Chapter 16

Holtz waited in the motel room for Justine to return. He didn't much care which twin she found, either would do, but they had to get at least one of them to act before Angelus convinced them he had changed. Holtz had waited too long for revenge to let a pair of children ruin it. Connor would be better. He seemed more loyal, plus he didn't ask so many questions. But the girl would do, provided he kept the plan simple enough for her. Stupid child.

He looked once more at the paper that Justine had fetched for him. They'd been gone for almost two weeks, but he had spent sixteen years or so trying to mould that thing's children into weapons he could use.

Justine knocked on the door and opened it.

"Daniel, look who I found," she said as Caitlin followed her into the room.

Holtz looked at the girl. She was dressed in modern clothes, presumably that Justine had gotten for her, but was still the scared little child he had to put up with for years.

"Where's Connor?" he asked and was pleased to see her expression fall slightly.

"We got separated, sir," she said. "There were demons."

"Are you making excuses?" he asked acidly.

"No, sir."

His weapons from Quor'toth were on the table and he picked up his favourite, a leather glove covered with small metal plates and spikes, and slid it onto his head.

"You know I don't like excuses. Now, where is he?"

"With Angelus." Caitlin was staring at the glove. She knew what kind of damage it could do. She had made it, after all.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I said I don't know!" Caitlin yelled.

The room echoed with Holtz's silence, which stretched on for just long enough to make his point. He flexed his hand with the glove.

"I see. Well, then, maybe you should go and find him."

Caitlin looked at him for a long moment. "Yes...sir," she said.

xxx

Connor sat in the lobby, lost in thought. Angel had managed to persuade him to come back whilst he checked with Cordelia, but he wanted to be out there, finding Caitlin.

Justine and Holtz, alone with Caitlin. Shit.

There was no way it would end well. It never did. And Caitlin never seemed to learn that. She always had to try, try to make him proud of her, try and be the dutiful daughter to a father that didn't deserve her. Connor couldn't understand it. He hated Holtz and Holtz _liked_ him, for crying out loud. But Caitlin, who Holtz had openly despised since, well, ever, seemed to be trying to make things better between them. For such an intelligent girl, his sister could be really stupid sometimes. Or maybe she was just desperate for a bit of love and care. Connor did love his sister, always had done and always would, but he wasn't that good at showing it. Maybe he should've tried harder, then she wouldn't be running around trying to get Holtz's approval.

He looked up as Cordelia came out of the office.

"Angel will be out in a minute. Are you all right?" she asked, smiling at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

"Like father like son."

"Huh?"

"Angel's a terrible liar, too," Cordelia told him. "I'm Cordelia."

"Connor. And I wasn't lying."

"So what's with the frown?"

"Oh, nothing much. My sister's missing and quite likely in the tender care of the one guy I know wants to hurt her."

"You mean Holtz?"

"Who else? You've met him. Did he really seem like a nice guy?"

"I'd go more with creepy, to be honest."

Connor grinned. "Now, that's a good word for him."

"Cordy? How does your filing system work?" Angel called from the office.

"It's called the alphabet," Cordelia yelled back.

"Well, it's not the English one."

"'Scuse me. Your father's being special," Cordelia said, standing up and going into the office.

Connor watched her go, waiting until she had closed the door behind her before he leapt up and ran outside into the small garden.

"Caitlin?" he called softly. "I know you're here."

Caitlin came out from behind the veranda's pillar. "What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Getting to know Angel."

"_Why?_"

"Because he's never lied to me."

"Lied to you?" Caitlin said, angry now. "About what?"

"Does Angel seem like a killer to you?"

"Maybe not a killer. Maybe a corrupter. You seem to be awfully keen on a guy you barely know."

Connor threw his hands up in pure exasperation. "Don't you remember anything about our life here?"

"We were babies when we left. How could I remember?"

"Tell me that you don't feel safe here. Tell me you don't know that this is where we meant to be."

"You're insane," Caitlin said.

She turned to go but Connor grabbed her shoulder.

"Caitlin, we are not his children. They're dead and we're just some pathetic attempt to get revenge. Don't you understand that? He doesn't love us and we owe him absolutely nothing."

"Yes, we do! He's kept us alive-"

"So he could use us to hurt Angel."

Caitlin threw his hands off her shoulders. "When did that _thing_ become an angel?"

"About a hundred years ago, according to him."

"And you just believe him. How can you just turn away from everything you know?"

"Caitlin, what is there in our life there worth knowing?"

"Each other."

"Cait, please don't-"

"Save it. I don't care anymore. Do what you want. And if you want to spend time with a vampire, fine. Just don't be too surprised when he drains you dry."

She ran out of the gate, too fast for Connor to stop her.

"Caitlin!" he yelled. "Come back! Please! Cait!"

Connor sat down with a thump and put his head in his hands. Then he made himself stand up again. He had never backed down to Holtz over Caitlin, _never_, and he was not going to start now.

Angel, who had come out of the office to find his son gone, was both relieved and surprised to see Connor marching back inside. The boy was beyond furious.

"Connor, what happened?"

Connor ignored him and crossed the reception desk. The weapons that he and Caitlin had brought through from Quor'toth were there. He picked up the wrist-blade and started to strap it on.

"What happened?" Angel asked again. Cordelia, sitting at her desk, looked up.

Connor picked up Caitlin's staff. It said a lot about her that she made brilliant weapons for everyone, from his wrist-blade to Justine's sword, and then kept the simplest for herself.

"Cait was here," he said, quietly, putting the staff back down. "And I think she just snapped."

"What do you mean?"

"I told her what I've always thought about Holtz and she got angry because, well, I don't really know why, but I guess because she thought she was the only one who felt like that and now she's furious with me for not telling her earlier and I really need to fight something," Connor said, all in one breath.

"Something like Holtz?" Cordelia asked.

"Maybe. Don't much care at the moment."

"Connor, you can't just blame Holtz."

"It's a good place to start," Angel muttered.

"Angel!" Cordelia hissed and raised her voice. "Connor, maybe you should just let both of you calm down."

"Well, you know what would calm me down? Killing something."

Angel watched, amazed, as Connor calmly turned away and headed for the steps to the sewer.

"Should I be stopping him?" Angel asked Cordelia.

"Maybe. How do you intend to deal with a kid who grew up in a hell-dimension, in the space of a fortnight our time, and should in theory believe you are the evilest bastard alive?"

Angel slumped. "Hadn't really thought that one through."

"You never do, do you?" she asked. "And I don't think Connor does, either. He's a lot like you, you know."

"Really?"

"Oh, same lost-boy sweetness, same dark good looks. Same tendency to talk with his fists and violent impulses. And the broodiness, boy, he's got that down stone-cold. You really don't have to worry about him, Angel."

"And my daughter?"

"She won't go back to him, Angel. Yes, she's scared and confused, but if she's anything like her mother, she'll do ok."

xxx

"He said _what?_" Holtz raged.

Caitlin stood in front of him, shaking with fear and cold. It was so cold here, compared to Quor'toth. "I think Angelus has corrupted him, sir. He wasn't like Connor."

"I told you, Daniel, you were relying too much on that boy," Justine said. "He's tricky. He sees too much."

"Sees too much? What nonsense are you talking?" Holtz demanded.

"He saw through you, all right, and me. He saw you had no love for either or them."

Caitlin looked at the two adults. Her tired, numb brain barely wanted to register the words, much less their meaning, but she forced herself to focus. Connor hated Holtz, that was important. Maybe, just maybe, he was right to. Maybe she was right to.

"You forget your place, Justine."

"My place is in Hell, Daniel, as is yours! I followed you there and we should never have returned. We should have died there."

"We didn't. I kept us alive for a reason."

"And if Connor is gone, we can't go through with your 'reason'."

"There's the girl."

"Look at her! She's not ready. She's not meant to do this."

"Maybe she doesn't have to do anything. Revenge can be a good motivator. It may still be possible to make Connor lose control." Holtz picked up the glove. "And we all know how...interesting that can be."

Justine frowned. "She'd have to be dead to make him lose control that much. Do you really think you're ready to kill another daughter?"

"This thing is not my daughter," Holtz said, turning to Caitlin.

The young girl backed away. "Then what am I?" she whispered.

"Just a means to an end," Holtz said, drawing his hand back for the first blow.

xxx

Under the streets of LA, Connor sliced the head off the vampire and watched it explode to dust. His first dusting.

"You know, that's what I was meant to do to you," he said to Angel, who was watching him. "But I didn't. And now my sister hates me and God knows how Holtz is going to react and everything is spinning out of control. And I can't stop it."

"Yes, you can. You've resisted him for years."

"Demons, vampires, I can fight those things. It's easy because I know how to."

"Well, how did you fight Holtz?"

Connor sighed. "By staying out of his way. By trusting my instincts and by never letting him get close to Caitlin. And now I can't do any of that. But I can still kill demons." He sat down and leant against the wall, rubbing the blade clean of dust.

"You're not going to kill Holtz. He's human, even if he doesn't deserve to be." Angel sat down next to his son. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That Holtz was lying to you."

"Just did," Connor said, shrugging. "I should've told her earlier. I just, I can't figure out why she didn't realised. Why doesn't she remember what he did to us? She's a hell of a lot smarter than me and I figured it out."

"Maybe because she's scared, Connor, and she's confused. Her world's been turned upside down and demolished in just a day. She'll come around." _Please, God, let her come around._

"We've never argued like that before."

"Everyone argues, even brothers and sister. Actually, especially brothers and sisters."

"What if something happens to her?"

"Caitlin's a strong girl. Nothing will happen to her."

Connor gasped, arm jerking up to shield his face. "Caitlin!" he yelled.

"Connor?"

Connor screamed and thrashed, desperately trying to fend off an attacker Angel couldn't see.

"Stop him! He's hurting her!" Connor screamed, clearly terrified. "Please, just stop. Stop it!"

Angel grabbed Connor's arm, trying to pull it away from the boy's face.

"Leave me alone! Oh, god, make it stop!"

Angel hung on and forced Connor's arms down to his sides, restraining the struggling boy. Connor's eyes were tightly shut, but there were still tears trickling down his checks. He still kicked out and fought, but it seemed more instinctive than out of a desire to break free.

"What it is? Connor, what is it?" Angel asked.

Connor's head snapped to the side, the skin surrounding his right eye looking raw and swollen, and he screamed again.

xxx

Liam sat in the hospital, covered in someone else's blood and tried to figure out just how he had got into this situation again.

He had been in his motel room, trying to get some sleep before he returned to Sunnydale and had to deal with what had happened to Neela, when he had heard screams. In LA, hearing screams wasn't that unusual, especially in motels like that one, but Liam had been upset and annoyed and, to be frank, in desperate need of a fight.

But to find a girl being beaten to death was more than he had expected. Especially a girl who was more, or possibly less, than human. Liam had never found a person with such a weird flow of life-energy. Sure, Neela's had been fractured, grating, because of the demon in her and the whole no-soul-but-human-emotions thing, but this kid's was both perfectly aligned and partially missing. It was disconcerting to say the least and wasn't helping his headache. And there had been the cross on the floor, half covered in blood with the chain broken. Liam rubbed it between his fingers. He knew this cross.

"Mr Reilly?" called the receptionist.

Liam hurried forward to the desk, putting the cross back in his pocket. "Is she going to be ok?"

"She's going to survive, but beyond that, we're not sure. She suffered extreme internal and external injuries. Now, I need to know your connection to her."

"Family friend. If you need an actual family member, I can contact them," he offered. This kid had to be one of Angel's. Trust the bloodsucker to lose one so quickly.

"That would be very helpful," the receptionist said, already turning away to deal with another emergency.

Liam sighed and went in search of a phone. A few moments searching in pockets came up with a handful of loose change, over half of which was from the wrong country. He thought for a moment and dialled.

"Hello?"

"Wesley, is that you?"

"Liam? What's going on?"

"Long story. Look, can you get your bloodsucker to Drew Medical?"

"Why?"

"I found a girl being beaten to death and I'm fairly sure she's his daughter. Can you get him here without him threatening to drown people, specifically me, in their own blood?"

"Of course. How badly hurt is she?"

"If she was pure human, she'd be dead by now," Liam said. "I've set up a basic protection spell for her, but I'm kind of run down. Get here now, ok?"

Liam hung up as his nose started to bleed again.

_Ok, _he thought._ No more teleportation spells for a while._

xxx

Lorne was almost skipping when he got back to the hotel. The building Neela had left to him was almost perfect, just needing a few small alterations before it would be up and running as the latest Caritas.

"Guys, I can't wait for..." he trailed off when he saw Cordy's expression. "What happened, starlet?"

In his room, Angel watched Connor, still worried. He hadn't woken up since he had collapsed in the sewer almost an hour ago. There were now bruises running up and down Connor's arm and legs, with the skin around his eye red and sore.

"Hey, Angelcakes. Cordy told me what happened, or I think she did," Lorne said, standing in the doorway. "What did happen? It looks like he took a serious beating."

"I think he did." Angel stood up and came to stand by Lorne.

"From what?"

"I don't know. We were talking and then he started screaming and trying to fend off something I couldn't see."

"And Caitlin?"

"I don't know where she is. I tried to track her again, but no luck. But I don't understand what did to this to him. There was nothing there."

"Well, even normal twins had incredible connections," Lorne said. "Knowing when the other is hurt and so on. With two demon parents, no offence, Angel, maybe their connection is even stronger. What happens to the one happens to the other as well."

On the bed, Connor forced his good eye open. "Cait," he murmured.

Angel hurried over. "Connor?"

The boy sat up. "I need to... He's done...She's-"

"Hey, calm down. It's ok." Angel put one hand on Connor's shoulder to stop him trying to stand.

"No, it's not," said Wesley from the door.

"She's hurt," Connor said, rubbing his eye. "We need to find her!"

"Drew Medical," Wesley offered. "Liam called."

"Liam? The Irish guy?" Lorne asked. "I figured he would've left by now."

"He found a girl being attacked, got her to the hospital. He says it might be Caitlin. I don't know why he thinks that."

"Who's Liam?" Connor asked.

"Friend of Neela's," Angel said. "He helped us to get you guys back from Quor'toth."

"He wants you there, now, before the girl wakes up," Wesley said.

"Ok. Wes, you come too. Lorne, stay here and try to get a lead on Holtz."

"You think he was involved?" the demon asked.

"I know he was involved," Connor snapped.


	17. Chapter 17

Liam had fallen asleep by the time Wesley and the others arrived. As Angel spoke to the receptionist, Wesley sat next to the Irishman and shook him awake.

"What the?" Liam muttered, and then focused on Wes. "Oh. Hey."

"Are you ok?" Wesley asked, gesturing at the blood.

Liam rubbed his t-shirt. "It's not mine. Well, mostly."

Wesley looked at Angel, still badgering the poor receptionist for news on Caitlin. He didn't have much time.

"I need to speak to you. About Neela."

"Wesley-"

"I need to know what happened."

Liam frowned. "I told you all you need to know, mate. She's gone and that's that."

"She told me everything."

Liam snorted. "You barely knew her."

"Does that change anything?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I really have no idea."

"So where is she? What happened to her?" Connor asked, coming over. "I can smell her blood on you."

"Connor, I assume," Liam said, frowning. "Don't take this the wrong way, but what the hell are you?"

"What?" Angel asked.

"His life energy is weird," Liam said. "Probably because of child of two vamps and all that, or I could be making this up as I go along." He blinked. "I may also be hallucinating; it's not out of the question. But I think this is hers." He passed Connor the cross on its broken chain.

"What happened?" Connor demanded, looking at the blood covering the necklace.

"I was at the motel, trying to sleep, when I heard screaming from another room. I was tired and pissed off and for some reason I went to investigate. I found a guy hitting Caitlin with some woman just watching-"

"Holtz and Justine," Connor muttered.

"Maybe. Anyway, I used some tricks to teleport them out of there and to get me and Caitlin here. Called Wesley, who called you, end of story."

"Teleported? Isn't that dangerous?" Wesley asked.

"Just a little. Before you ask, I have no idea where they are now. They could be anywhere in a twenty mile radius. Hell, they could even be a twenty miles above us by now. Well, not by now, but originally. Maybe."

"Right. So unless they come crashing through the ceiling, we have absolutely no idea where they are. Brilliant," Wesley said.

"Your problem, now, not mine. I've played the Good Samaritan enough for one decade," Liam said.

"How did you know it was Caitlin?" Angel asked, frowning.

"I can tell she's not fully human, and there was the cross."

"What, this? She's had it forever," Connor said. "What's it got to do with anything?"

"It was my friend's. She always said it brought her good luck and good brawls," Liam said, standing up. "She gave it to Caitlin before you and your sister got sent to hell."

"Why?"

"Just because she's my best friend doesn't mean I ever understood her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I should be going."

"Where are you going?" Angel asked.

"Look, I'm covered in blood, I'm tired and I really don't like you, Angel. So where I'm going is none of your business. Oh, and one more thing-"

Liam swung round and smacked Angel in the mouth.

"Now I feel better. Have a nice summer."

Wesley watched Liam leave. "So, how's Caitlin?"

"Serious internal and external injuries. Beyond that, they don't know, exactly," Angel said, rubbing his jaw. Whilst beating the hell out of Liam was tempting, he understood the punch completely.

"What does that mean?" Connor asked. "She's going to be all right, isn't she?"

"They don't know. There's a possibility that... that she might be blind."

"What?"

"Whatever Holtz hit her with has done serious damage, especially around her eyes."

Connor touched the bruises around his own eyes. "When can I see her?"

"Now, if you want. Come on."

Wesley watched them walk away to see Caitlin and looked to the exit Liam had left by.

xxx

Liam was waiting just outside the hospital.

"You're really not going to give up, are you?" he asked when he saw Wesley. "What is it now?"

"You know, hitting Angel wasn't the most mature course of action."

"Never claimed to be mature. The guy just bugs me."

"But you came to help us."

"I came to America to help _her_ and she wanted me to sort out you sorry gits. Only reason I was ever here."

"How did you two meet?"

"Jo'Nekra came to Ireland, looking for O'Neil, I think," Liam said. "My dad used to know him and we knew about the Hunters. Jo'Nekra nearly killed Dad, I bound the demon and then I have a new consciousness on my hands. It was something to do with the demon's energy mixing with the inherent bit of me in the spells. No one really knows. But she's saved my life before, despite her lack of soul."

"The second time we met, she staked a vampire that was going to make my life rather unpleasant and then told Angel to keep a better eye on me," Wesley remembered, smiling at the memory.

Liam chuckled. "She had a point. Renegade Watchers are rare enough with one getting killed."

"I'm not really a renegade. I got fired."

"Even better! Why?"

"I got assigned not one, but two slayers, and then one went evil and ended up in a coma and is currently in prison for murder and the other really is a renegade."

"At least you had a Slayer. My dad got fired just for helping out the O'Neils. I quit soon after."

"The Watcher's Council are rather difficult to work with sometimes."

"But you can work for Angel?"

"Angel's not as bad as he seems. He has a soul now."

"And that makes such a difference. Wes, he threw Neela out without a second thought. I'm just warning you to watch your back."

"I trust him, Liam."

Liam shrugged. "So did she. And she really loved those kids. 'Specially that little girl in there."

"I know she did."

"And because she isn't here, I have to try and figure what she'd want to do with this little situation I have here," he carried on, ignoring Wesley's comment. "I'd side with a vampire hunter over a bloodsucker any day, even if the bloodsucker's got a soul. It's just the way I am. But she was better at thinking round corners than me, so she might not. Factor in what Holtz did to Caitlin, and I know exactly what she'd do." Liam threw a matchbook to Wesley. "Room 307."

Wesley turned the matchbook over in his hands. _Sleep Easy Motel. _"This is where you found Caitlin?"

Liam nodded.

"Why are you telling me?"

"Weren't you listening? Because she would."

xxx

Connor had lived in a hell dimension all his life, seen things that Angel might not believe and done things he didn't want the vampire to know about. He had seen villages torn apart by demons, the inhabitants strewn around their homes in pieces. It wasn't something that you got used to seeing, but such atrocities didn't surprise him like they used to.

But what Holtz had done to Caitlin made his blood boil.

"What's going to happen to her?" he asked Angel.

"The hospital want to keep her in overnight, but she can probably come back home with us tomorrow." Angel hesitated. "She won't be able to see clearly for a while. Maybe never."

Connor bit his lip. Blindness was a serious weakness. Weaknesses got you killed. And he had let Caitlin down.

"Can I talk to her?"

"Sure. I'll wait here."

Connor pushed open the door and entered Caitlin's room. For a boy used to the repugnant stench of a hell dimension, the sterilized room smelt wrong, unnatural. Caitlin's scent was mixed in with blood and the strange smell of the room. He could almost feel his stomach churning. Opening his mouth, Connor realised he had no idea what to say. What words could make this ok?

Caitlin was sitting up, a tiny figure in the white bed, with thick white bandages wrapped around her face. When the door clicked shut, her head snapped around.

"Connor?" she said, voice shaking.

He crossed the room and pulled her close. "I'm here, Cait." He would've been happy to stay like that until the rest of the world fell and burned, until there was nothing left that could hurt her, but eventually she calmed down and pulled away.

She tilted her head to one side, a mannerism that reassured her brother somewhat. "Angel?"

Angel stepped up to the bed, standing next to Connor. "Hey, Caitlin." This wasn't how he'd wanted to meet his only daughter.

In all his years, Angel had seen plenty of people who could communicate with a glance, a tone of voice, the slightest twitch of the features. His kids, however, could apparently communicate without doing _anything, _and that was a little creepy. Connor, reacting to some signal that Angel hadn't noticed and was fairly certain didn't exist, moved back from the bed, murmuring something about finding Wesley. But it made Angel smile to realise that Connor wouldn't leave Caitlin unless she was ok with it, no matter how she let Connor know that.

Slowly, uncertainly, Caitlin reached out until her fingers brushed the back of Angel's hand. "You're cold?"

"Part of being a vampire," he admitted.

"Connor's hands are always cold. Cold hands, warm heart," she said.

_Cold hands, dried up walnut for a heart, _Angel silently amended. He wondered where she'd heard that phrase, though. Justine, maybe? Holtz would never have said it, that was for sure.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked.

Caitlin started to run the tip of her finger over the back of Angel's hand. Judging from the way she was breathing in through her nose, she was trying to learn Angel's scent as well. "Connor thinks you're some sort of hero," she said quietly. "He trusts you already. So, yeah, there is something you can do for me."

"What?"

"Don't prove him wrong." There was a pause. "Please."

Angel did the only thing he could think of and just held Caitlin, for the first time since she was just a few months old. She tensed for a moment, but he didn't move away and then her arm was around his neck, hand clutching his collar like he was about to let her go again. Holtz had never hugged her like that.

And Connor, loitering by the door, smiled to see his sister like that. This was what he wanted for her, safety and a father who loved her. And maybe, just maybe, Connor could relax now. Could stop assuming the worst. Could not be strong, for just a moment, without Caitlin getting hurt because of his weakness.

Then the nurse came to chase Angel and Connor out, leaving Caitlin alone in the strange room.

"She'll be all right, won't she?" Connor asked, looking over his shoulder at the closed door.

"She'll be fine here." Angel glanced at his son. "Holtz won't be able to get to her."

Connor looked back at Angel. The vampire sounded calm, in control, nothing like the berserker vampire Holtz had lectured him on for years. But the cold eyes, the clenched fist... Angel was just as angry as Connor. And although Connor was glad, more than glad, to see the vampire cared, it did complicate things.

As they left the hospital, Connor trailed a little behind Angel, trying to think. He had been planning to get to Holtz first anyway, just to get his own revenge on the monster. A quick death, clean. Although, he didn't have to kill Holtz, did he? Caitlin was still alive. And Holtz had been such a fan of making the punishment fit the crime.

xxx

Gunn stopped his truck downtown. There wouldn't be anyone around here, he knew. The gang had moved out of here just after he had met Angel. After Alonna had died, none of them wanted to stay there. Gunn wasn't even sure where the gang was these days. He had a feeling that at least some of them had stopped fighting, moved on to a more normal life. Rondell was somewhere on the other side of town, going after one vamp at a time.

He walked into the abandoned building. It smelt of rats and dust. The high windows let in a little light, but they had always had to pinch candles and make their own light. He found the old weapon's rack, long empty.

Life had been so much easier in those days. All he had to worry about what Alonna was up to, rats and vampires. Neela had been good at fighting and a good ally. She had known more than them about vampires and all the history and stories as well, not just how to kill them. For kids whose whole lives were about fighting vamps, stories of Slayers and Dracula and long ago battles were a way to relax and laugh again.

Then, quite unexpectedly, Neela had left. Alonna, Gunn and a few others had managed to say goodbye, simply by going after her. Even when she came back to LA to 'protect' the twins, Neela had been different. Slower to laugh and quicker to fight.

Gunn sat down on the steps and thought about what it would be like to live Neela's life. She had never talked much about her childhood, but then neither had most of the gang in those days. She had always been a friend, even when she was the other side of the world, even when he had no idea where she was. She'd never been an enemy before. What she had said to him...

But she wasn't an enemy now. Neela was still Neela. Wasn't she?

A piece of graffiti on the wall caught his eye. It was Bobby's work, a nice kid who used to be a devil with the stake shooter. He had been in the gang since Gunn had started it with George and Rondell and died just before Alonna. For a joke one day, he had spray-painted a little cartoon strip on a bare patch of wall. Kid had been a good artist, for all the good it did him in down-town LA.

Gunn's eyes followed the old story. Cartoon Gunn and Neela fought cartoon Dracula, all long cloak and huge fangs, killed him and rescued cartoon Alonna. She had been furious with Bobby for making her the damsel in distress. At the end of the wall, cartoon Neela and Gunn were dancing at some sort of celebration. Or maybe on Dracula's grave, Gunn wasn't sure. Bobby had always been convinced there was something between Neela and Gunn, despite both their protests.

Gunn sat there, surrounded by the ghosts of dead friends and an old life, staring at the cartoon.

"What were you?" he whispered, tears coming to his eyes. "Why didn't you tell us?"

But he knew that Charles Gunn, man of the streets and freelance vampire hunter, would never have accepted Neela if he had known about that demon inside her. Could never accept her.

"I thought I'd find you here, bro," Rondell said, standing by the door. "I heard 'bout Nee."

"How?"

"Some middle class white dude called Liam came and told me. Gave us some weapons and stuff she wanted us to have." He came over and sat down next to Gunn. "What the hell was she doing in Sunnydale? Why wasn't she here?"

Gunn turned to face his old friend. "What would you say if I told you Neela wasn't human? That she'd been lying to us forever?"

Rondell did a double take. "Neela's a demon? When did that happen?"

"When she was a kid, bro. Possession or something. She told me that she only worked with us to learn how to pass as human."

"She might've wanted to learn, but she taught a hell of a lot more. She helped us, man, taught you and me a hell of a lot. Nee's still Neela, right?" When Gunn didn't answer, realisation dawned. "What did you say to her?"

Gunn looked away.

"G, what did you tell her?"

"She'd killed people, Rondell!"

"Ever think maybe they deserved it? Nee's the one who took down that rapist back then, the one who nearly got Alonna, remember? We never asked what she did to him. She had the mission." Rondell stood up, angry. "More'n you do, anyway."

"That's not fair."

"Like kicking her out was?"

"Angel kicked her out, man, and he had a reason."

"Bet you didn't say nothing in her defence, though, right? I told you workin' for that thing would change you. Alonna saw you now, I don't what she'd do."

Gunn squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force the pain back down. "She'd get it. I do more good with him."

"Like forgetting your friends, getting rid of Neela, working for a _goddamn vampire_?"

"Things are different."

"No shit."

"It's not like I'm not sorry 'bout Neela. I am but-"

"But what? She lied so you don't miss her now she's gone?"

"I made my choice. I can't just unmake it."

"I don't think you'd try. G, man, I know when Alonna died, it hurt you bad. But we've all lost people. We don't all switch sides because of it."

_No_, Gunn thought. _You got hollow inside. _And then he regretted it, almost instantly. Rondell's kid brother had been torn apart by a group of vampires who didn't want a meal, just entertainment. And then there had been Bobby, Alonna, George, dozens of people lost to the monsters under the bed. There wasn't a single member of his gang who hadn't lost someone, who didn't miss them everyday. But he was the only one to ever work with a vampire.

"We've having a service for Neela, about eleven. She's dead, don't matter now what she was," Rondell said, turning to the exit. "You know where."

And Gunn did. They had one secluded spot, just by the river, where they said goodbye to all their dead friends.

"But don't come if you're still with that thing. You turn up, it means you chose us again. You wanna stay with the vampire and let him make your decisions for you, you stay away from us." Rondell stormed out, slamming the door behind him with a definite _thud_.

Gunn slumped. He had known this ultimatum was coming for a while now, but it still hurt to be told it. This time last year, he had almost left Cordy in Pylea to look after his old crew, but he couldn't just abandon his new friends either. He had gone with Angel and nearly got beheaded once or twice, but he didn't regret it. He'd met Fred there-

Fred. His Fred. He'd been rude to her today, and although she understood, he wasn't proud of his behaviour. He should go see her. Gunn looked at his watch. He had time to make his decision.

xxx

Wesley leant on the desk, turning the matchbook Liam had given him over and over in his hands. It was obvious Angel wanted to know where Holtz was. Wesley knew for a fact that Fred was hacking the networks of all the motels from here to Sunnydale. What ever the reason, getting revenge on Holtz wasn't worth losing Angel. But would it be right to keep the information from him? The last time Wesley hadn't told Angel everything, everything and almost everyone had promptly gone to hell.

"How is Connor?" Cordelia asked, handing Angel a mug of blood.

From the basement came the sounds of a very angry person hitting a punch bag.

Angel shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Sounds like he's as good with emotions as you," she said, giving him a bright, false smile. "Maybe you should set an example for him."

Wesley perked his ears up. Cordelia was much better at getting Angel to open up than anyone else he knew.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"No, you want to kill Holtz," Cordelia said. "Come on, Angel. I know you."

"A little too well, sometimes. And I couldn't kill Holtz, anyway. I don't know where he is."

Cordelia pulled a sheet of paper from under his arm. It was the information Fred had pulled off the various networks she had access to, relating to sightings of an old English man and an American women with red hair, armed and travelling together.

"At least, not yet," Angel amended as Cordelia glared at him.

"Angel, I have no problem with you killing these two. They stole Connor's and Caitlin's childhood and then nearly killed her, so kill 'em for all I care, but do not lie to me or your children about what you're going to do. Those two at least have a right to say how this plays out and you should listen to them."

"I will," he promised.

Wesley grinned in relief. "Uh, Angel," he said tentatively.

"What, Wesley?"

"I think I know where Holtz and Justine are. Or were."

And just inside the door to the basement, Connor strained to hear every word.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Angel yelled, leaping up.

"I wanted to check, first," Wesley said. Which wasn't entirely a lie; he had already called the number and checked. With a last prayer to whatever Power wasn't currently screwing them, Wesley handed over the matchbook.

"Cordelia, can you stay with Connor?" Angel asked.

Connor didn't want to be stayed with, no way in Quor'toth, not if Angel knew where Holtz was. Easing the basement door open, he slipped out through it and ran down the corridor to another exit on silent feet. He'd get there first. He had to.

"Angel, don't leave him out of this," she said, shaking her head. "Connor trusts you right now, don't throw that all away."

"I can't bring him into this," he argued. "He shouldn't have to fight the man who raised him."

"Shouldn't he be allowed to make that choice?" Wesley asked softly.

"He's just a kid."

"He's just _your_ kid."

"Please keep him here."

"Angel!" Cordelia yelled desperately.

The vampire did hesitate. Just for a second. But then he carried on, out of the hotel, out of the light, into the darkness of LA.

He had to go meet a monster.

xxx

Gunn knocked on Fred's door, unsure of what he was going to say. After a second, Fred answered, with the same slightly goofy smile that she tended to wear.

"Charles!" she said. "Hi!"

It was the same forced brightness she had shown earlier that day, when he had told her to go home. Gunn managed a small smile in return.

"Can I come in?" he asked, feeling awkward beyond measure.

"Sure."

Fred's room was the same mix of science paraphernalia and cute junk that it always was. A white stuffed rabbit with wire glasses was sitting on a table and Gunn picked it up, absentmindedly squeezing it. He couldn't quite manage to look at Fred.

"I think we need to talk."

xxx

Holtz sprinted towards the Sleep Easy Motel, panting and gasping with every step. The long years in Quor'toth had definitely taken their toll on his health, but he forced himself to keep moving.

Caitlin was alive. Some idiot had interfered and Caitlin had survived. His whole plan had hinged on framing Angel for the brat's death but that would be impossible now. Caitlin would tell Angel where he was and Holtz could never beat the vampire in a fight, not after sixteen years in a hell dimension. He wouldn't even be able to beat Caitlin in a fight, not if she hit back.

He rounded the final corner, hoping Justine would already be there. That warlock's spell had separated them, so who knew where she had ended up, but she was faster on her feet than him. If she was there, they could leave immediately. Or he could leave immediately anyway, so-

A hand grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him into the wall. Before Holtz could recover, the same cold hand was fastened around his throat.

"Ah, Angel. I was wondering when you'd find your way here," Holtz choked out, his attempt at levity obviously forced.

And unappreciated. Angel slammed him against the wall again, hand tightening around his throat. "You nearly killed Caitlin!"

"And you turned my daughter into a vampire."

"Caitlin had nothing to do with that. She's just a kid."

"As was Sarah. And my son. Did that stay your hand, all those years ago?"

"I didn't come here to justify myself to you, Holtz," Angel spat, beyond furious. And before he realised it, the angelic face had gone, replaced with his game face.

Holtz wasn't surprised or scared. If anything, he looked relieved. "And you claim to have changed."

"I have changed," Angel said, softly. "Because this death, Holtz, _your _death, is the right thing to do. You don't deserve to live. I was a soulless monster when I killed your daughter. You can make no such claim."

"I don't need to," Holtz replied, still calm, still dignified. "Actions that are truly right need no justification, beast. They just happen. So kill me if you wish to. My purpose here is done and finished."

"What purpose? Trying to kill a girl who saw you as a righteous man?"

"Every time you look at her," Holtz continued, as if Angel had not spoken. "You will see what I did to her. What I reduced her to. And it was all because of you. You do not deserve those children, not when mine have been dead for hundred of years!"

"You deserve them even less."

"Maybe. But I had them." Holtz started to laugh. With Angel's hands around his throat, he was laughing like there was no tomorrow. "Connor and Caitlin may be your children, but you are not their father."

Angel jerked back, stung, the demonic face fading away out of sheer surprise.

"Even if you live to see the end of the world," the old man said, still smiling. "You will never get that honour back."

"Maybe not," Angel said, vamping out once again. "But neither will you." He pulled Holtz's head to one side and bit down, hard.

The iron bar smacked even harder into the side of his head, knocking him down.

"Daniel!" Justine yelled, grabbing the man and pulling him away. "Come on!"

Holtz, tired, weak and half-choked, could barely stand and Justine practically had to drag him away, taking almost all of his weight. And there was no telling how long Angel would stay down. She bullied Holtz into moving faster, turning the corner quickly and heading desperately away from the vampire.

"Hey!" a voice yelled.

Justine couldn't believe it. This was LA and yet someone seemed to want to help. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she turned awkwardly, Holtz still leaning on her.

"Thank god, you- Connor?" she asked, torn between relief and fear. How much did the kid know? "You have to help us, Angelus is here. He's trying to kill us."

"I know," Connor replied, stepping forward.

"He's that way, please help your father!"

"No," the boy replied calmly. "My father wants you both dead. I'm not ready for that yet." He pulled out a knife, one that Caitlin had made for him.

"Connor," Justine said, gently setting Holtz down and stepping in front of the Englishman. A pathetic defence for him, but it was the best she could do. "Whatever Angelus has told you, it's not true."

"He didn't tell me. She did." Connor came further forward, staring Justine down. "Where you there, Justine, when he did that to my sister? Did you even speak out?"

"Kid-"

"Go, Justine. Leave, now," he ordered, pushing her to one side.

"I can't," she whispered.

"He would," was the quiet reply. Connor grabbed Holtz, pulled him up to his knees. And Justine just stood there, watching. Horrified. Terrified. Relieved.

"Son," the man murmured.

"Do not call me that," Connor interrupted furiously. He held the knife up so Holtz could see it. "You wanted me to be like you, I know. Wanted me to do what you wanted to do." The knife was pressed against Holtz throat. "If our positions were reversed, you'd cut my throat."

For a second, he paused. Looked into Holtz's eyes, as the man he had called father stared right back. Connor sighed, stepped back, took the knife away from his throat.

Holtz breathed a sigh of relief.

The knife flew upwards, catching Holtz in the face, from one cheekbone up through the eye and forehead.

Holtz slumped forward, bleeding, blinded. But alive. Connor pulled his head up again by the thinning hair and held the bloody knife up again.

"Take a long look, _father_. I'm _nothing_ like you."

With a final look at Justine, a look that made her cringe back, Connor left.


	18. Chapter 18

Gunn looked at Fred, waiting for her to comment. He had just told her he was going to go back to the gang, so surely she was going to say something. But as the moments dragged by, he realised he was going to have to speak again. "You understand, right?" he asked finally.

Fred turned away. "Yeah. I understand fine." Her voice was tight with unshed tears. "You want to go back to your little street gang and abandon us."

"I'm not abandoning you! You got Angel and Cordy and Wes. My gang need me. More'n you do, anyway."

She spun to face him again. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Fred, what do we have here? We don't talk, we don't date. We haven't had two minutes to ourselves since we got together."

"Well, things have been... chaotic lately. But they'll get back to normal soon and then-"

"Then what? Things are never normal around here. We're working for a vampire and the office girl has visions!"

"I'm not saying it'll be easy, but surely you can at least try."

"Fred, relationships between people like us never go well. Look at Angel's record. Maybe, if things were different-"

"Different how? If I was different? If I was Neela?"

"What?" That was a line of attack that had never occurred to him.

"Is this about us or about her, Charles? The idea of having a relationship with me not so fun now your demon girlfriend's gone?"

"There wasn't anything between me and her, you know that."

"Really? We haven't had a conversation that didn't involve her since we got together. Was I just the... substitute?" she demanded.

Gunn realised this wasn't about making him hurt. Fred actually thought that might be possible. "No! Never. Like I said, if things were different-"

"You mean if I was different."

Gunn had had enough. So Fred was hurting, well so was he. And he hurt a lot. "This isn't about you. Fred. I've been thinkin' 'bout leaving since before you came back to LA. And this thing with Neela, just... She was one of my best friends and I trusted her so much. Then I find out she's a demon, she was playing me the whole time. She told me herself she didn't kill us just 'cause we weren't worth it. And now she's dead and I don't know whether I should care or not. I thought I could do more good here, fight a larger battle. But I was wrong. I'm not a big-picture kinda guy. I can do more good with my own crew. They need me. I need them." He walked towards the door.

"I need you!" she said to his back.

He didn't face her again. "No, you don't. You're not the scared woman Angel brought out of Pylea. And we both know that this... this whatever we had wasn't meant for the long run."

"You don't know that."

"I know that a physicist and a street-rat aren't meant to be together." He opened the door. No going back.

"So we're over." It wasn't a question.

"Fred, we never started," he said, going through the door and shutting it behind him.

_So why do I hurt so much? _

xxx

Angel rubbed the side of his head, feeling the huge bump courtesy of a passionately wielded iron bar. The only person he could think of who would give a damn about him beating Holtz to death was Justine, and that tied into the scents he was picking up.

But if Holtz and Justine had come this way, they were long gone. Well, they wouldn't be back in a hurry, if they had any sense. Which, admittedly, was doubtful at this point. Their scents were still recognisable, although rapidly fading. There was another scent he couldn't place, one that he knew he should recognise. And blood. Human blood.

He crouched down, scanning the ground. There it was, a small pool of blood, surrounded by splatters. Dipping his fingers in it, he smelt it, tasted it.

Holtz's blood.

As Angel gracefully stood once more, he caught a strong whiff of that unknown scent, and now it was strong enough for him to recognise.

Connor.

xxx

Connor didn't like front doors.

Well, maybe that was a bit of a generalisation. He didn't like the hotel's front door at least, and that was the only one he had had to use so far, really, so the generalisation didn't seem too bad.

Wasn't that something Holtz had said, or had it been Justine? Something about witches not liking front doors, preferring dodgy dealings behind houses, out of sight. But Connor wasn't a witch, that much he could be certain of. And there were no dodgy dealings here, just lies and deceit.

So Angel had discovered where Holtz was and not told him. Connor had thought about it as he clambered up the side of the hotel, looking for a window he could jimmy open. Angel lying to him didn't bother him too much; after all he had lied to the vampire too. But he had seen the bite marks on Holtz, seen the blood on his neck.

Angel had fed from Holtz. And that did bother Connor. He had banked too much on Holtz being wrong about Angel for the sadistic old man to turn out to be right now.

Whilst Connor's vocabulary was mostly limited to words applicable to survival, hunting and hell, Justine had taught him a few others. Like _teetotaller. _What if one neck was one too many? What if Angelus had returned?

Connor found a good looking window and perched on the ledge, trying to lift the latch with the point of a stake. Holtz had delighted in telling him about the actions of Angelus. Connor knew about his obsession with family. So if Angel was chugging human blood again, it looked like Caitlin and himself would be first on the menu.

The window popped open, inwards, thankfully. Connor had no desire to splatter himself across an LA road. He jumped inside, landing quietly on the floor and slipping the stake back up his sleeve. By the thick smell of dust and the staleness of the air, Connor assumed that this was part of the large hotel that was mostly unused, and that suited him just fine. He chose a room at random, trying doors until one opened for him.

The room inside was dirty, chaotic. Old furniture piled high, most of it broken. There was no light except that which came from the street outside through a grimy window. It would do. Connor crossed to the bathroom, leaving the door open behind him for the little light he would need. With one hand he turned the tap at the sink; with the other he pulled a small package from inside his jacket. He unwrapped the newspaper he had scavenged, revealing the knife inside. The knife stained with Holtz's blood.

Caitlin had always hated the thought of Connor killing anyone. And she hadn't wanted Holtz to be killed by Angel, he knew that much, so Connor had done all he could. But surely he wasn't meant to just let Holtz go without any sort of retribution. An eye for an eye. Make the punishment fit the crime. Holtz had always loved that idea. Angel took his children so he took Angel's. He took Caitlin's sight, so Connor took his. Connor held the knife under the tap, rubbing dried blood off the blade. It was important to make sure no blood remained. If Angel was evil again, Connor didn't want him knowing that he knew. Hopefully there wasn't any blood on his clothes or skin; he'd have to check later, carefully. Hide the knife, as well, just to be sure.

More lies. More deceit. Dimly, Connor thought that even if he ever got to see some truth, he wouldn't know what it was. He was so tired of fighting and anger and lies. He just wanted to rest. Make it all stop.

As the blood from the knife swirled around the drain, Connor's tears dripped into the basin.

xxx

Cordelia paced in the lobby. That was all she had been doing since Angel had left to find Holtz. Round and round, over and over again. Wesley had already tried the normal methods of snapping her out of it, with the same results as always. She was still pacing. Still worrying.

Not that he could blame her. This time last year, they had only just pulled Angel back from darkness. Wesley didn't fancy their chances a second time. Nor did Cordy. He knew about the stake she kept in her bag, the stash of holy water in her desk, with another stake under the reception desk. They all had copies of the spell to take back a vampire's invitation. And all the chaos last year had started with Angel just having one mouthful of Kate Lockley's blood.

If he had killed Holtz...

When Angel finally came through the front door, Wesley couldn't help it. His hand felt under the desk, fingers curling round the stake. Cordelia was the one who turned, smiled, leapt forward.

"_I trust him, Liam."_

"_So did she."_

"Angel," Cordelia said. "Did you-? Did-"

"I didn't kill Holtz," Angel said, voice sharp and harsh.

Wesley let go of the stake, feeling ashamed with himself, even as Cordy hugged Angel tight.

"Thank you," she whispered. "You did the right thing."

"I hope so," the vampire replied. "Where's Connor?"

"After you left, I couldn't find him," she said. "But I went upstairs to fetch something just now and he was in your room."

"He left the hotel?"

"I suppose so. Didn't even hear him. Quiet as a vampire, I guess. And we've got food, if he's hungry."

"I should probably go talk to him first." Angel turned vaguely towards the stairs.

"How do you think he'll take it?" Wesley asked as Angel climbed the steps.

"He already knows," Angel muttered.

xxx

Cordelia had been right about Connor; the boy was in Angel's room. He could smell him and his fear. Angel hadn't expected fear. Anger, resentment, maybe, but not fear.

Tentatively, Angel knocked on the door. When, after knocking again, there was still no reply, he turned the handle and pushed the door open. The room was dark, but Angel could see Connor curled up on one of the chairs, asleep. Asleep, but not peaceful. More nightmares, Angel assumed, but what else would he have after a childhood in Quor'toth? Angel hesitated at the door, caught between wanting to let Connor rest and, if he was being honest, postpone their conversation, or to get it over with.

But Fate, or Connor's superhuman hearing, took the matter out of his hands. As Angel took one step forward, a floorboard creaked and Connor snapped awake. The terror was coming off him in waves.

"Hey, hey, it's all right," Angel quickly reassured him, moving towards him instinctively.

Connor pulled himself out of the chair, muttering an apology. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, even though he could tell it hadn't been for very long. He didn't know why on earth he had come in here, anyway. Had to be careful around Angel until he was certain. The only difference between Angel and Angelus was what they drank. Still apologising, Connor started to edge around his father towards the door.

"Connor, you don't have to leave," Angel said, sitting down. "Actually, you probably shouldn't. I sort of need to talk to you. Sit down."

Although Angel didn't realise it, there was the faintest hint of an order attached to his words, which was just about the only reason Connor did sit back down.

"I found out where Holtz was," the vampire said, unable to look Connor in the eyes. "And I went to see him."

Connor waited for Angel to continue for a moment. "That's all? Just to see him?"

"We talked about Caitlin. And I think it's safe to say he won't come near her again."

Slowly, Connor breathed in deeply through his nose, taking in all the scents he could. And there it was. Blood. Coming from Angel. He hadn't really expected Angel to tell the truth about his little 'talk' with Holtz, but part of him had hoped for some explanation, some lie he could trick himself into believing.

"Great," he said finally. "Just to check, is this like the last time you said Caitlin would be ok or do you actually mean it this time?"

As Angel took on that expression he always did when someone questioned his word, Connor stood up. It occurred to him that annoying Angelus might not be the best thing to do. He needed to get out of this room. This time when he walked towards the door, the vampire didn't object. Thankfully.

Angel slumped back in his chair. Talk about one step forward, two steps back.

xxx

Gunn closed the room of his old room behind him. He hadn't had that much stuff at the Hyperion in the first place and now nearly all of it was stored in his truck outside. He had tidied up the room as well. No point in leaving it a tip. Now the room was empty and tidy and looked as if he had never been there. Which in a way, he hadn't. He'd never been more than the muscle here, and with Angel around how much more muscle did you need?

Part of Gunn knew it wasn't that simple, but it was being overpowered by the rest of him. He'd tried being sensible and thoughtful and a team player, but he wasn't cut out for the big picture. Hell, he wasn't even ready for the slightly-larger-than-before picture. So he would downsize. Go back to the street gang and attempt to make things like they were before he started working for a vampire. Oh, that was going to be fun.

And he had to say goodbye to Angel and the others as well, didn't he? At least the conversation with Fred with over. That had damn near broken his heart. Just knowing that your relationship with the woman you love was utterly doomed didn't make ending it any easier.

xxx

Wesley was at his desk, again. He had spent too much time here recently, from mis-translating prophecies to researching Quor'toth. Now, however, he was working on the clues Neela had left him. If the Clan was as powerful as she had said, he needed to find out everything he could. As far as he knew, not even the Watcher's Council had heard of them, or hadn't taken them seriously if they had. If there were more Hunters around, Hunters that couldn't control the demon, then someone should be trying to stop them. Wesley was amazed that creatures so destructive hadn't been noticed by the various Forces for Good before now. But if this Clan was covering them up or directing attention elsewhere somehow, who knew how much damage had been done.

A knock on the door called his attention back to the real world.

"Come in," he called. When the knocker did, he was surprised to see it was Connor. "Connor, how can I help you?"

"Holtz said you were the one who knew things," Connor said, sounding uncertain.

"Did he? Well, I'm flattered," Wesley replied. He waited for the boy to continue with whatever it was that he wanted.

After a moment, he did. "He never told me about Angel. Just Angelus. So I need someone who can tell me more."

"I can understand that, but surely Angel has told you something about it?" Wesley asked. When Connor didn't answer at all, the Englishman's well oiled brain finally put two and two together. "You still don't trust him, do you?"

Connor didn't bother to correct the Englishman. It wasn't a matter of not trusting Angel. Part of him still did that. It was a matter of seeing if he was right to do so. "Would you?"

"I suppose not. So you come to me, as a more neutral source of information?"

"Close as I'll get, anyway," Connor said. "I just need to know how easy it is for Angel to turn back into Angelus."

"It's unlikely to happen, Connor."

"But it can be done. How?"

Wesley sighed. "Angelus was cursed, over a hundred years ago, with his human soul. Since then, we've discovered that the curse has a loophole. If Angel experiences a moment of pure joy, where his soul doesn't torment him, he loses it."

"Any other way?"

"Drugs have temporarily reverted him to Angelus, but that wore off in a matter of hours. But if Angel gave into his darker impulses-"

"What does that mean? Violence? Killing?"

"Taking a human life could do it. Human blood seems to make Angel more violent, closer to Angelus, although he does still have a soul at that point."

"When did Angel drink human blood? I heard he was drinking pigs' blood."

"There was some... confusion just before you went to Quor'toth. A powerful demon called Sahjhan put some of your blood into the pigs' blood that Angel was drinking. He became violent towards you and your sister."

Connor's head was spinning. Angel had already tasted his blood. It was too late to stop him. With an effort, he managed to keep talking. "So if he drank from a human that could be enough?"

"Not for a complete reversal to Angelus, but it could very well start him off."

"Thanks," he said, quickly backing out of the office. He needed to get Caitlin out of the hospital and away from here as quickly as possibly. Why, oh why had he let Caitlin start to trust Angel? This was going to break her heart.

Connor headed for the stairs, intending to exit via the window he had found earlier, but Angel was walking down them towards him. He quickly changed direction to avoid Angel and hurried down the steps into the basement. Anything was better than facing the vampire again.

Angel watched his son deliberately avoid him, wishing he knew whether Connor was scared of him or just angry with him. Desperately, he hoped for the latter; every teenager was angry with their parents at some point. Not so many were terrified of their father. At least, not the happy ones. And Angel wanted his children to be happy so badly. But he had let Caitlin down, more than once and it looked like Connor might have crossed the line that Angel dreaded so much. Things would get better, soon, he promised himself. They all just needed time to readjust. To a lot of things.

Of course, he was going to have to adjust to more things than he realised. At that moment, Gunn came down the stairs from his room, bag in hand. Cordy, sitting on the sofa, spotted it first and raised her eyebrows at the young American.

Keen to put off the goodbyes for just a few more moments, Gunn turned to Angel.

"Was that your Connor?"

"Yeah. I think he's not too happy with me."

"Kid's got more than enough reason to, I guess. I think I'd let him be," Gunn said, shrugging. "Had a hell of a day."

"He really did," Angel agreed, turning his head to look at him, seeing the bag in Gunn's hand. "You going somewhere?" It was a casual enough question – Gunn suspected Angel's mind was still on Connor.

Gunn took a deep breath. "The gang want me back. And I want to go."

That got Angel's attention. "I thought you could do more good here."

Gunn shrugged again. It pretty much summed up how he felt, but he knew that wouldn't be enough for Angel. "I'm no Champion. That's your deal. And someone has to keep a lid on downtown LA. You know, two different fronts."

"Well, I guess I'll know where to find you."

"Angel, maybe... maybe you shouldn't. For a while, at least. I'm going back to guys who think I betrayed them, so having a vamp hangin' round probably won't help."

"Right." There was no way to tell what that really meant so Gunn get on talking.

"I'm not saying never. You know, just think there should be a gap. Clean break between me not working for you and me maybe shoving you in the right direction."

"Makes sense. Well, in that case, be careful, Gunn," Angel said, holding out his hand.

Gunn shook it. "Yeah, you too." With that over, he turned to Cordelia. "Cordy," he started, not sure whether to expect a hug or a slap.

It turned out to be the former as Cordy flung her arms around him. "You take care, you hear me?"

"Yeah. I promise."

"And you have got to call if you need any help at all, understand?"

"Cordy, I'm moving half way across town, not to Outer Mongolia," he joked feebly.

"Still..." she said, hugging him again. "I sort of got used to having you lazing around here."

"Hey, lady, I never lazed."

"Whatever, Charles Gunn! Oh, is Fred going with you?" she asked, but he knew she already knew the truth.

"Nah. Me and her wasn't right, you know? Not real right."

She smiled sadly. "I'll take care of her."

"You'd better. Is English here?"

"Doing the book thing," she said, jerking her head towards the office.

Indeed, Wesley was doing the book thing. Connor's little questions had been unexpected, but Wesley wasn't worried. He'd have been more concerned if Connor had never asked about Angelus, he had realised once the boy had. It was an obvious course of action for him to take, if he was trying to sort out Holtz's lies from whatever truth he might have picked up.

When the door opened again, he got his second unexpected visitor.

He smiled at Gunn. "Am I missing something, has Cordy had a vision?"

"Not exactly. I came to say goodbye."

Wesley blinked. "I'm sorry, you did what?"

"I came to say goodbye. I'm leaving," Gunn repeated, shrugging.

"Leaving? Leaving LA?"

"No."

"Ah. I take it your gang need you again?"

"Yeah."

"Makes sense. You're a good leader, Charles. I'm sure you'll do well."

"Uh, thanks."

"I know that I have no experience of what you're going back to," Wesley said slowly. "And that I'd probably be about as much use as a tea-cosy, but if I can ever help you, I'd like to."

"I never thought you'd say that."

"Why?"

"You know."

"Because of Fred? Well, that did sting a bit, but it was her choice. And I respect that. Is... Is she leaving with you?"

"No. She's staying."

"Oh. So you're not..."

"It's over," he said shortly.

"I'm sorry." And he was. Maybe more sorry for Fred than for Gunn, but he was still sorry.

Gunn shrugged again. "Hell, I was poaching. You and her got the smarts; perfect match, English."

"Maybe."

"Either way, look after her, yeah?"

"I will. Good luck, Charles."

The friendly handshake Gunn and Wesley shared was nothing to the hugs bestowed on Gunn by a teary Cordy, but it had something more behind it. They might be on different teams now, but they'd always be friends. The people you met in this line of work always stayed with you, even if they got too careless and made that one fatal mistake.

So after almost two years of working with Angel and killing who knows how many vampires, Charles Gunn left Angel Investigations.


	19. Chapter 19

Cordelia had seen plenty of break-ups and been involved in a fair number of her own. She'd even caused a few in relationships that had had nothing to do with her, when she had nothing better to do. Back in high school, the romantic life of someone like Fred Burkle would have had no importance to her at all. But Cordelia was changing. Or had changed. There was definitely some change happening somewhere.

So when Gunn walked out of Angel Investigations, just after walking into a relationship with Fred, Cordelia knew she would have some serious damage control on her hands. And the first stage was to get Fred to come out of her room.

"Fred?" she called, tapping on the door. "Want to come down?" Still no answer. "I've got tacos."

"I'm not hungry," Fred said thickly through the door.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll come down later."

So much for that plan.

xxx

Cordelia leant one elbow on the desk, staring at a magazine without actually taking in the _Delicious Scandal_ that had prompted her to buy it in the first place. Maybe tacos were the wrong way to go. Ice cream was more traditional, practically a necessity in these situations. But which type? Cookie dough fudge mint chip ice cream? Or something simpler? And why did cookie dough fudge mint chip ice cream always make her think of Angel? Ok, sure, both tasty and cold, but really.

Still thinking, Cordelia leant back...

...To see Angel looking at her from across the room, frowning.

"What?" she snapped.

"Cordelia, I said, is anything wrong?" Angel demanded.

She relaxed. "Hell froze over. Fred doesn't want tacos. Post-relationships blues are fully exercising their visitation rights."

"Oh. Is she going to be all right?"

"Hopefully. I was planning an evening of ice cream and bad movies for later." _Cookie dough fudge mint chip, definitely cookie dough fudge mint chip._

"Does that help?"

Cordelia smiled. "Trust me on this. How's Connor?"

"Who knows? I think he'd be better if Caitlin was here."

"Oh, I called the hospital again. Nothing's happened," she reassured the vampire quickly. "They say she's doing ok."

"Good. That's... good."

"Yes, it is. Try to be positive, okay?"

"Doesn't come naturally."

"So try harder."

"I have been!" he nearly yelled.

"Good," she said smiling. "So we go and pick Caitlin up in the morning and everything will be ok-"

The vision hit full force, the shock of it sending her crashing to the floor. Cordy knew more than felt that Angel was already next to her, supporting her as best he could.

"What is it? What do you see?" he was saying over and over.

_A tunnel..._

_No, a cavern, and too many tunnels to count..._

_With a girl..._

_And something she couldn't see..._

_Something worse..._

_Magic..._

_Blood..._

_Old power..._

_Caitlin._

And then Cordelia was back in the hotel, on the floor, with Angel next to her and tears flooding down her face. When she looked at Angel, she knew he could almost read the bad news on her face. He just needed the details.

"Angel, it's-"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "No!"

"It's Caitlin," she said, firmly.

Wesley was standing by the office door, and as Angel was still crouched by Cordy with his back to the rest of the room, he was the only one to see Connor striding towards the front door. Cursing, he hurried forward and grabbed the boy's arm.

"Take your hand off me," Connor ordered.

"Wait. We can help you."

"I think we've had enough of your 'help'," he replied. Fast as Angel, Connor pulled his arm free and swung the other around to send Wesley crashing into the wall.

Angel jerked around at the noise, just in time to see the door swing shut.

xxx

Caritas Take Two clearly hadn't been a bar before. Well, not the type of bar that Lorne intended to run anyway. After a full day of cleaning and organising, it was already looking better but it would take months to get it perfect. The appalling furniture had to go and don't even get him started on the colour scheme.

Lorne hadn't had this much fun for years.

Well, if you ignored the mathematics required.

Lorne squinted in the dim light at the figures he had scribbled. "Ok, multiply this by that, carry the one," he muttered under his breath, wishing he had a calculator rather than a scrap of paper. "And you get..."

A loud knocking on the door smacked his train of thought off the rails. Lorne tried to ignore it.

xxx

Connor didn't need a scent to find Caitlin. He never had. He didn't know where she was, or even where he was, but that didn't matter. All he had to do was let the pain in his heart tug him forward. The closer he got, the less it hurt and at the speed he was running, the pain was fading fast.

No more waiting. This time, he wouldn't let Angel keep him away from his little sister. He wouldn't trust anyone else to keep her safe ever again.

There is nothing quite like the protectiveness of a brother for a sister. And there is nothing to compare to the fury when that protectiveness fails.

Connor was heading for Caitlin.

And heaven help anything that got in his way.

xxx

Angel was ready to kick the door down by the time Lorne opened it.

"What?" the green demon demanded, with uncharacteristic venom.

"Lorne, we need your help," Angel replied.

Lorne stuck his head out of the door, seeing Cordy, Fred and Wesley standing behind Angel. All of them were armed.

"Geez, I leave you kids alone for five minutes..." he murmured. "What's wrong?"

"Cordelia had a vision. Caitlin's in trouble, we don't know where."

"Cordy, sing," Lorne said quickly. It only took a couple of bars for him to find what they needed. "You want the sea cliffs. There's been talk of something big and powerful setting up some sort of trials there, no one's really sure."

"Can you take us there?"

"What are friends for, Angelcakes?" Lorne said, pulling the door shut behind him.

xxx

Connor peered into the darkness of the cave, wishing he'd the forethought to bring some light with him. Or even his flint. But even in the darkness, he could make out the shape of something in there. The only question was, was it something or someone?

"You know, I thought you get here just a little sooner," said the figure, moving into the light.

Connor recognised him easily. "You're the man who found Caitlin. Liam."

Liam smiled. "The one and only. More or less."

"What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you, of course. Heard your sister got into more trouble, thought maybe I could help you."

"And that isn't at all suspicious," Connor said, crossing his arms. It would have scared him to know just how much he looked like Angel at that moment.

"God, can you not be your father's son for just two seconds? I can get you in to talk to the boss. He can get your Caitlin back for you."

"Let's go."

xxx

Further in the cave, two beings waited patiently in a small room. To call them human would be wrong, as no humans would ever be so perfectly formed.

The woman, who was dressed in flowing white robes, stood up, smiling.

"My knight is coming, little man," she said to the room's other occupant. "The first of six, although some will be useless to me. Not him though."

Her companion, a man who in comparison to her was scruffy and filthy, grinned back. "You're forgetting the rules again. The boy's already mine."

"You- How?" she demanded. "How did you do it?"

"Come on, Vita, I did make the boy."

"Well, in that case, she is mine to do with as I wish."

Nemo sighed dramatically. "I know that, Vita. But what is it you wish to do?"

"I want the same thing you do, sweet one. The end of the conflict. Unlike you, I have more sense than to put my trust in these pathetic creatures."

"We cannot tamper with the balance, it is forbidden."

"There is no balance, not yet. I will give this world perfect balance between good and evil, perfect, eternal balance."

Nemo frowned. "Vita, what-?"

She smiled at him, like a parent smiling at a dim child, and vanished.

xxx

Caitlin had leant in the hospital that as her eyesight was now almost nonexistent, her other senses would improve, as if her body was trying to compensate. In this new area, that idea had turned out to be correct. It wasn't anything like being able to see, but she did have a vague idea of her surroundings. Her sense of smell told her there were no demons or vampires in here, although there was a faint trace of blood, her hearing told her that any humans in here were being as quiet and still as the dead. And she would certainly be able to smell any rotting corpses, so Caitlin felt it was safe to assume she was on her own.

This wasn't good.

A lifetime in Quor'toth had supplied Caitlin with the strength and skill to fight just about anything, but that was useless without her sight. How could she fight if she couldn't see what she was meant to be fighting? And her time in Quor'toth had also taught her something else: for some fights, you were on your own. She trusted Connor, completely and utterly, but sooner or later, she'd lose him. The thought made her want to cry and scream, but it was true. And so she had to be able to cope on her own, however difficult it might be.

She stretched her arms out in front of her and took two steps forward. Another step and her fingers brushed stone. If it was a wall, maybe she could follow it to a door.

At least, that was the plan. Caitlin had only managed a few steps before her foot slipped on something and she fell on her face. As she pushed herself back up, she could feel tears pricking her useless eyes. Furiously, Caitlin bit down on her lip to stop them. She mustn't cry, no matter how much she wanted to. No matter that she hadn't tripped like that for a decade and the humiliation of the whole bloody situation was beyond tolerance-

A hand pushed her against the wall, holding her there firmly.

"I believe, little Caitlin," said a voice, unknown to her, but proud and female. "It is time for you to see what you have done."

The hand let go, but before Caitlin could move, it ripped the bandages off her eyes.

Caitlin clapped a hand over her eyes and-

She could see her hand. Not well, it was slightly blurred, but it was there. She could see again. Caitlin slowly looked around her at the stone walls. Yep, there was definite sight there. But she had to turn her head more to see things. It took her a moment to realise why: no sight came from one eye. Gingerly, she felt around her eye, felt the scarring that surrounded that bad eye. Okay, so only half sight, but still better than before.

It took her a few moments before the thrill wore off to realise that she had no idea how this had happened. Whatever that thing had been, it seemed to have pumped months of healing into her eyes in an instant. And that seemed to be much more a demon trait that a human one. She hadn't smelt a demon. She hadn't smelt anything. But that smell of blood was increasing, like all the blood was slowly draining out of something.

And then she saw the bloodstains on her bare feet. Remembered slipping on something.

"_It's time for you to see what you have done."_

Slowly, Caitlin turned around.

"Oh, God in heaven," she whispered. "No. _No_."

Connor was lying on his side, eyes shut. His throat had been slit, blood staining the floor around him.

Caitlin tore her eyes away, looked down at her bloody feet. And saw the equally bloody knife clutched in her hand.

And screamed.

xxx

Connor spun around. "Did you hear that?"

"You mean that horrible, blood curdling scream? No, I didn't," Liam said. "We have to keep moving, kid. This place is really not nice. Hence the screaming."

"Was if it was Caitlin?"

"We can't help her unless someone helps us," Liam said, walking on.

Connor hurried after him. "Who's going to help us?"

"Did Angel ever tell you about the Powers That Be?"

"Uh, Cordelia gets visions from something she called the PTB."

"That's them. Only she doesn't get visions from the Powers. She gets them from one specific Power, one who actually gives a damn about us here on earth."

"What's this got to do with Caitlin?"

"The Power I work for has some serious enemies. I think one of them snatched your sister. Now, as I'm just an Irish Mage with delusions of grandeur, there's no way I can help you fight a Power. My boss might be able to."

"So what is a Power?"

"Beings stronger and bigger than anything in this dimension. In human terms? If something could cover the spectrum from God to Satan, all at the same time, that'd be a standard Power."

"And we're hoping one of them is going to help us?"

"My boss isn't normal. More sort of- Piss off, you bloody little spook!" Liam yelled suddenly, making Connor jump.

"Are you insane?" he said.

"It's been suggested."

"Quiet would be good right now," Connor hissed. "And what the hell is wrong with you?" He spun round as he felt something touch his arm. "What was that?"

"This place is meant to play with your mind, you understand? What you see here isn't real. It tries different ways to make you stop fighting. Shows you what you never want to see or what you want to see more than anything."

"So what did you see?"

"My mother. She died when I was about your age," he replied quietly.

"Vampire?"

"Cancer, actually. It's a disease people can get here, quite a killer. She just got sick and one day she wasn't there anymore. Nothing mystical or otherworldly about it. Dad would've saved her if it was."

"So everything in here isn't real, right?"

"Mostly. I mean, if you see your sister, tread carefully. Might be her, might not be."

"She's close," Connor said.

"How can you tell?"

"I just know." He started running again, following instincts that have never let him down.

"Hey, kid, wait!" Liam yelled. He took off after Connor, but as he followed the boy around a corner, Liam smacked into a wall he guessed hadn't been there a second earlier. Someone was fighting dirty. "Damn it, Nemo, help me!"


	20. Chapter 20

"This is it?" Angel asked, standing at the mouth to the cave.

Lorne nodded. "All the bad vibes I've been feeling recently seem to be coming from here. It's a powerful hotspot."

"Ok, is everyone ready for this?"

The gang all nodded. Each held their favourite weapon, although the absence of Gunn with his hubcap axe was noticeable.

Angel started to walk forward and the other followed, with a reluctant Lorne trailing behind. The vampire sniffed the air. Connor had been here, with someone else. Human, but not Caitlin or anyone else he knew by scent.

Behind him, Lorne yelped.

"What it is?" Wesley asked, turning around.

"I... I can't get in," Lorne said. "I keep bouncing off something like an adorable green ping pong ball."

Wesley hurried back a few paces and stopped just in front of Lorne.

"Right there," the demon said, pointing.

Cautiously, Wesley reached out and then jerked his hand back, feeling like he'd stuck it in a socket.

"I suppose that means we can't leave," Fred said. "Knew I should've stayed in my room," she muttered to herself.

"Well, maybe there's another way out," Cordelia suggested.

"We'll deal with that when we've found my kids," Angel said. "Lorne, if you can't follow, maybe you should get out of here."

"I like that plan," Lorne said. "Well, good luck, guys."

He stood and waited for them to pass out of sight before turning around. It was the least he could do.

xxx

Caitlin backed away from the body, dropping the knife. It wasn't real, it couldn't be. This was a trick of some sort, a horribly realistic trick...

And almost on cue, the body on the floor disappeared.

She stepped forward, cautiously. Ok, she hadn't wanted it to be real, but what the hell was going on?

The knife was still on the floor, though. If the whole thing had been some hallucination, shouldn't the knife have disappeared as well? So she had a fake body, but a reassuringly solid knife. Caitlin spun the knife around her hand, testing balance and weight. With a start, she realised it was one of her knives, one that she had made. Not one of her best, though, and she hadn't brought this one with her to LA anyway.

Caitlin wasn't about to turn down any weapon in this place, and instinctively she stuck the knife into her belt. And paused. She hadn't had a belt in that weird dress the hospital had dressed her in. Looking down, she saw the familiar tunic and arm-guards she had made back in Quor'toth. The clothes were so natural and comfortable she hadn't even noticed when they appeared.

The stone walls around her were fading away, she realised, slowly allowing her a view of her surroundings. But what she saw could not possibly be true.

She was back in Quor'toth.

xxx

Connor dodged through room after room in this strange place, relying on his instincts more than any real knowledge as to which way to go. All of these rooms seemed the same to him anyway: cold, dark and with lots of stone. He wished he'd thought of stealing Liam's light, just to stop himself walking into a wall. It made tracking anyone a real pain, but he didn't have to track Caitlin thankfully.

He'd been running for about ten minutes before he realised Liam wasn't with him, but Connor assumed the guy could take care of himself. And if he couldn't, it wasn't Connor's place to coddle him.

Senses stretched to breaking point, Connor was ready for anything this cave could throw at him. Demons weren't a problem, and Liam had warned him of the apparitions that appeared here. He could cope with ghosties, he was sure. In any case, he had no dead loved ones to visit him. Entering a new room, Connor was pleased to see wooden torches along the wall. Fire was always a good weapon, as well as a welcome light source in these caves. He crossed to one and took hold of it, ready to pull it free.

_A woman, blonde and pretty and slightly familiar to Connor, was writhing in pain, screaming and begging. There was fire everywhere, she was in the flames, but they made no mark on her pale skin. The flames rose higher and the woman's face changed, into the demon face he had seen on Angel. Vampire, fire, but no dust. Then she was human again, and still screaming. _

Connor yanked his hand back from the torch, breathing hard, and stared around, trying to re-orientate himself. Was that would Liam had been talking about? But that wasn't anyone Connor knew. Steeling himself, he reached for the torch again. This time, his fingers pulled it free without any strange sights, no weird images. He turned away again, relieved, with the torch in his hand.

_Angelus parried Caitlin's strike, spinning round and slamming an arm into her side. A brutal uppercut followed, sending her crashing to the floor. Connor tried to leap forward, only to find he couldn't move at all, not even his eyes. He had to watch as Caitlin aimed a kick at Angelus' legs, a kick that was too easily blocked. With a vicious smile, the vampire dragged Caitlin up, only to knock her down again. She pulled out a stake, throwing it straight at his heart. He blocked it at the last minute. _

"_Nice try, kid," he said, grinning in his demonic face. _

_She fought desperately as he pulled her up again, but he pinned her arms to her side easily. With a roar, he buried his face in her neck and Connor could smell the blood, see it running down onto her shirt. She screamed-_

Connor stumbled and landed on his knees, the torch falling from his hand.

_Caitlin strode down the wreckage of a street, past burnt out houses and other still burning, with screams filling the air around her. The Caitlin Connor knew would have flinched at the sound, or looked around to check for the source, but this Caitlin walking towards him was smiling, nodding her head slightly to the sounds like they were a song. _

_The image flickered. The same Caitlin stood in front of him, but the background had change. Instead of the burning street, she was in a basement, fighting with a young man, a knife clutched in his dirty hand. Through sheer luck, the man, or boy really, managed to cut Caitlin across the face. _

_With a roar, Caitlin's face changed until it mirrored Angelus'. For a moment, the unnatural yellow eyes looked right at Connor before Caitlin seized her opponent, ripping his throat open. She let the body drop to the floor and looked up again, blood staining her mouth and running down her chin. _

"_Miss you, Con."_

Connor gritted his teeth and started to drag himself along the floor. Had to keep moving, had to find Caitlin and stop this from happening. He forced shaky legs to hold his weight and stood, then ran.

xxx

Angel led his friends down the stone passages, wishing Lorne had given them a few more details about where to go. Hell, even a general direction would help now. Why did these situations always have to be so complicated? Pausing, he smelled the air, checking for scents he knew. That was Connor's scent for certain, and the boy was scared.

"This way," he said, turning down another stone corridor.

It was quite a while before he realised none of them followed.

xxx

This was stupid, Wesley thought to himself. You simply could not get turned around when walking in a straight line after the man, ok, vampire in front. It was impossible.

_As impossible as two vampires having twins?_ His treacherous Watcher-side asked nastily.

He'd always hated those thoughts. They sounded too much like his Father and as for your own brain belittling you, it just wasn't on. So Wesley did what had always worked before. He shoved the thought to the back of his head and then trampled on it for good measure.

So, with that dealt with, all he had to do was find Angel and the others again. Easy. Simple. Not a problem.

"Hello?" he called, stupidly hopeful. "Anyone there?"

Carefully, he started walking again.

In the wrong direction.

And the path closed up behind him.

xxx

Vita almost danced for joy. The pathetic little humans were all running around like headless chickens and they'd never figure out why. It was perfect!

She snapped her fingers and pictures appeared in the air in front of her eyes. Connor was still locked in visions, and she had made them as painful as possible. He was out of the picture. And Caitlin was stuck in that brilliant hallucination of Quor'toth. Not that Vita had ever been to Quor'toth, nasty, dirty place that it was. That was the beauty of these caves. They reached right into your mind and pulled out anything that could be used against you. Memories, dreams, nightmares. Vita smiled. Nightmares were definitely her favourite.

Her joy was short lived. Nemo popped into view next to her, arms crossed over his chest.

"You dare break your own rules, Vita?" he demanded, furious.

"They are mine. I can do whatever I wish."

"The deal was-"

"The deal was only valid as long as I said it was," Vita cut in, still smiling. "And I say it's not anymore."

Nemo looked stunned for a moment. He had known Vita for thousands, no, millions of years and yet he was still shocked when she pulled a stunt like this. Then he straightened, stuck out his chin, stood tall.

"Deal's off, huh?" he said quietly, almost too quietly for her to hear.

"What?" she said, looking at his suspiciously.

He grinned at her. "Won't that be fun?"

"Nemo-"

He didn't want to hear it. Didn't have to hear it.

So he just disappeared again.

xxx

Fred was annoyed. She was also lost, which wasn't helping. She'd wanted to go out, forget about Charles, and maybe watch Angel pound some slime-ick monster into goo. Instead, she turned her back for two seconds and got left behind.

"Guys?" she yelled. "Where'd everyone go?" She turned around, peering into the half-light. Then she went sprawling, sticking one hand out in an attempt to stop her fall. Annoyed, she looked at her bleeding palm and fingertips.

Okay. The gang couldn't have gone far. Assuming the cave spread out from the entrance towards the city, it could only cover an area smaller than it took to cover in a twenty-minute car ride, although that was twenty minutes of Angel's frantic and most likely illegal driving, which would be equivalent to...

Okay, a lot of ground to cover. They were last heading inland, which would be... this way? Or that way?

This could take some time.

xxx

This was so typical of Angel, Cordelia thought. So busy trying to be the big Champion he lost his own friends.

"Hello, Cordelia."

She jerked around and screamed.

"Hi, remember me?" the demon said, smiling. Well, she thought it was smiling. "Skip, your demon guide?"

"Don't do that to me," she cried, slapping his arm. "You don't sneak up on someone who's lost in a dark cave!"

"Uh, sorry?"

"You'd better be. What do you want? Don't tell me I'm dying again."

"No, no death," Skip reassured her, scratching one of his horns. "Kinda more a... opportunity."

"An opportunity for my brains to explode out of the back of my skull?" she demanded, jabbing him in the chest.

"Cordelia, please – ow! Stop that," he yelped, dodging. "We don't have a lot of time."

"We don't have a lot of time? You said I wasn't dying!"

"And you're not. Really. But the Powers sent me because you were given the chance to get out of this life and have what the old Cordelia would've given you anything for. And you didn't want it. Even the shallower Cordelia didn't want that life."

"What do you mean, shallower?"

"You proved you were a Champion. And the Powers need you."

"I've been working for them for well over two years. Get to the point."

The demon tried another friendly, reassuring smile. It didn't really work. "We still need you, but on a higher plane. We need you to join the Powers and fight directly with us."

"What?" Cordelia asked, stuck somewhere between amazement and confusion. "You want me to, what, ascend?"

"Cordy, you've already ascended. It's just time for you to accept that. You've grown far beyond this world, beyond this mission. You're meant for greater things."

Cordelia stared at the demon. "What are you, brainless?"

"Uh, I-"

"I'm meant for greater things? Please! I can't even make a decent cup of coffee."

Skip scrabbled for something to say. "The fate of the world does not depend on caffeinated beverages."

"Shows what you know. Don't be ridiculous, Skip. Powers don't help humans ascend. Humans just... don't ascend! We're little and shallow and that's why you love us, but I'm not going anywhere. I've got too much here to lose."

"If you do not accept your destiny, all will be lost."

"You don't know that. No one can."

"The fate of the world depends on you doing what you are meant to."

"And what I'm meant to do is help Angel. Get someone else to ascend. I'm staying here." Defiantly, she crossed her arms and turned away.

"Your love for Angel will never come to anything," Skip said cruelly. "There is no point in staying here for him. He'll die before the year is out!"

Cordelia felt tears prick her eyes. "Then the last thing he'll see will be me fighting beside him! _I will not go!_"

"So be it," the demon said. "You just condemned your world, Cordelia Chase."

And then, against all reason, Cordelia smiled. Not her normal pretty smile. "Plenty of time left to save it."

xxx

Vita stamped her foot in frustration. When had Cordelia Chase grown up? And why had Skip failed to tell her when she had? The useless little slime was supposed to have been watching Cordelia. Reminding herself to condemn the demon to one of the more firey hells, Vita examined the other possibilities.

The twins were out of the question for her plan. Angel would also be unsuitable, if the next part of her plan went smoothly. She could always force Cordelia, but she had the nasty feeling that the young woman was far too stubborn for that to work really well. Of course, there was always the other two. Wesley and Fred.

Decisions, decisions.

xxx

"Will you just go away?" Wesley yelled in exasperation.

His father ignored him completely. "I told you, it was that last turning. Why won't you ever listen? Always wanting to be independent, always making a royal mess of it."

"You're not even real," Wesley said, more to himself than to the image of his father, as he kept on walking in the direction he had chosen. It hadn't been that last turning, he was sure of it.

"Of course, you never did show any promise. If it hadn't been demanded by the Council, I never would have sent you to the Watchers' Academy," his father continued. "You couldn't believe my astonishment when I heard you were doing well. Dropping standards are everywhere I know, but I really thought the Academy had more sense than that. Your mother thought it was a good sign that you were top of every class, but I told her that it just meant the Watchers' Council was going to have a very trying time when they needed you boys to actually do any work!"

"And the fact that you were never top in anything had nothing to do with it," Wesley replied. He knew he was arguing with a figment of his imagination, but he'd wanted to say that for a very long time. It felt good to finally be able to say it, even if it was just to a hallucination or whatever this was.

"You know, you look bloody stupid," Liam said, leaning against a doorway.

"Are you real or not?" Wesley asked, doing his best not to see his faux father out of the corner of his eye. It was very distracting.

Liam came over and gently flicked his ear. "I'm real, Wes. Unfortunately."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to meet someone. Believe it or not, I also work for the Powers. I came here to talk to my boss."

"Talk to a Power? Is that possible?"

"As you may have noticed, things aren't exactly normal around here. Come on," Liam said, walking towards the door he had come out of. "He wants to meet you. And ignore the vision, it's not real."

"I had realised that," Wesley said, offended, but he followed Liam anyway.

The room they entered was slightly different to the others Wesley had seen. It was better lit, for one thing, with a blazing fire in the middle of it. There was also a man sitting casually on a table.

"That was quick," he said to Liam, who shrugged.

"He found me, boss."

"It doesn't matter how he got here, although I would be interested to know if he was mysteriously separated from his companions."

Wesley was devoting most of his concentration to not hearing whatever his father was saying and barely heard. "That's right," he answered.

The man tilted his head to one side. "Is that your spook?"

"What?" Wesley replied.

"The guy who's badmouthing you in some prissy English way. Who is he?"

"My father. Or it looks and sounds like him, anyway."

"Someone who doesn't accept things at face value. Interesting." The man shut his eyes and Wesley's father winked out of existence.

"Thank you," Wesley said. "Who are you?"

"Call me Nemo."

"'No one'?"

"I'm an ironic guy," Nemo replied. "Now, Wesley, Liam tells me you work for Angel."

"That's right."

"Of course it's right. Now, your boss just knocked a potential player of mine off the board and that annoys me. But I still need Angel to do his little 'helping the helpless' thing, understand? So I would really appreciate it if you could keep him doing that. Him staying alive would also be a great help."

"Why?"

"One of my fellow Powers has big plans for earth and they're not the sort of plans that involve tea and medals at the finish line. If Angel is out of the picture, there might not be a picture left."

"Angel has always been important."

"No, he just kept being put in the middle of important battles and not getting killed. There's a difference."

The Englishman frowned. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm a pretty powerful guy. I can see into the future, which isn't actually as useful as it might sound. The future is always in motion, but sometimes something is so likely to happen that I can see some of the possibilities of what the future might be. With me so far?"

Wesley nodded.

"Good. So you'll understand that when I say all I can see for this time next year is blood and death, this isn't good."

"But you just said that the future isn't settled."

"Wesley, my enemy is going to try and tip the scales, to remove any chance of her plan not succeeding. And if she manages that, everyone you know and love will die. Horribly. Angel Investigations will be her first target because you are best positioned to stop her."

"We're hard to kill, Nemo."

"No, you're not."

xxx

Cautiously choosing a direction, Fred had started to walk and hoped she wasn't going in circles. Of course, it would be easier to remember if she had been here before if all the rooms didn't look exactly the same.

Or almost exactly the same. This room had some symbols on the walls, like nothing she had seen before. From the regular spaces between the symbols and the repetition of certain symbols, Fred could tell that they weren't random decorations. It was more likely they were a language, an inscription. Maybe they were directions out of here. Then again, they could just as easily by a recipe for boiled humans.

She wished Wesley was there. He'd be able to decipher them, or at least guess at their meaning. Idly, Fred traced the letters with a bloody finger. They were kind of pretty, in a way, especially when they glowed like that... But when had they started to do that? It didn't matter, Fred thought dreamily. They were so pretty...


	21. Chapter 21

Connor was so close to his sister he could smell her. A rough wooden door was between him and Caitlin; he kicked out furiously and it shattered. Stepping in, his foot kicked a scrap of stone into an abyss that surrounded the floor. Caitlin was there, but Angel was standing right next to her.

_With a roar, he buried his face in her neck and Connor could smell the blood, see it running down onto her shirt. She screamed-_

Connor collided with Angel, sending the vampire crashing to the floor. A sword fell out of Angel's hand and Connor kicked it away quickly. Disarm, disable, destroy, he heard Holtz whisper in his ear. Disarm, disable, destroy.

"Connor, it's me!" Angel yelled, rolling over and back onto his feet. "What's wrong with you?"

Connor didn't answer, swung again, connected. The vampire was holding back, he didn't know why and he didn't care. Disarm, disable, destroy. Press the advantage.

He leapt back, escaping Angel's clutching hand and then flipped over, hands grabbing the abandoned sword. He landed on his feet, still between Angel and his sister, and now he was armed. That was better.

"What's going on?" Angel demanded. "Connor!"

Connor raised the sword. Disarm, disable, destroy. He swung the weapon, but Angel grabbed his arm and twisted it around, trying to make his son drop the sword.

"Stay the hell away from her!" Connor yelled, letting the sword drop from his fingers.

"Calm down!"

Connor wriggled free from Angel, spun round and kicked out.

The vampire flew backwards.

Over the edge, into darkness.

xxx

Caitlin stood perfectly still, staring around her. She couldn't remember how long she'd been there, but her mind was working furiously.

"This isn't possible," she said aloud, needing to hear someone say it. "I'm still in those caves. I know I am."

The landscape flickered, almost as if it agreed with her.

"_What's going on? Connor!"_

Caitlin spun around, but she couldn't see anyone. "_Angel?_ What the hell?"

"_Stay the hell away from her!"_

"Connor?" she called. "Connor!" No reply. She shivered; Caitlin had the weirdest feeling she hadn't spoken at all. "Are you keeping my brother from me?" Caitlin demanded of the hills and trees. "Are you?"

And somehow she knew they were, as clearly as if they had said so themselves.

"Whatever you are, if you know this much about me, you know I'll find some way to fight you. And I'll win," she continued, feeling her confidence grow. "So get the hell of my way!"

_Far too defiant_

Caitlin was sure she had heard the sound, and then just as sure that she had imagined those words. The hills faded away, showing she was just where she'd thought she was, in a stone chamber with a dark pit to one side of her, as it the floor had just dropped away there. Strangely enough, she was still wearing her Quor'toth outfit. Connor was standing in front of her, hands on her shoulders.

"Caitlin, snap out of it," he was saying, giving her a little shake.

"What the hell took you so long?" she replied.

For a moment, it looked like Connor was going to start crying. Then he calmed down, smiled at her. "I'm not the one who wandered off."

"Wasn't my fault."

"Really."

"Remind me why I wanted you to find me."

"No one else would – Caitlin, your eyes! What happened?"

"Beats me," she said with a shrug. "Had a lot of weird visions and then I could see again. Not that I'm complaining. Can we get out of here now?"

"Good plan," Connor said, glancing at the pit. "Nothing here left for us."

xxx

"I'm losing more and more players every year," Nemo said, with a glance at Liam. "You have to keep Angel Investigations together, Wesley. When the shit hits the fan, you must stand together or you will fall. Angel will fall. Then the entire world will go to hell without even moving."

"Why us? Why not the Slayer?"

"Because of the twins. They were created for this coming battle, and they have a hell of a part to play. But also because you, you and Angel and all of the rest of your little band, you are my Champions in a way that the Slayer can never be. None of you have to fight, but you all do. It's so silly. So human. And I will help you just for that."

"What are you?"

"I'm Nemo. Don't get too worried, Wes. You have a few months to prepare. Just watch the skies. Liam, remember what we talked about," Nemo said, his eyes turning black. "I can play these caves now. And Wesley, as much as they annoy me, there are some rules I can't disobey. Forget, little man. Forget until you must remember." And for a moment, his voice deepened, grew in strength and power until it shook the two men to the core. He snapped his fingers.

As the room swam and faded into black, Wesley could have sworn he heard Nemo whistling merrily to himself. Whoever or whatever he had just allied himself to, Wesley felt sure he was guaranteed an interesting ride. If only he could remember where it was heading to...

xxx

They always used the same place for these services. It was the closest thing they had to a graveyard; even if they had the money to pay for a proper funeral, that money was always needed for something else. These days even reporting the death was a waste of time. The LAPD had gotten so used to not asking the right question when faced with a freaky death that it was amazing they ever asked any questions about any death. So when one of their own died, the gang would bring the body down here and set it alight, later collecting the ashes to scatter in the river. Burning a body was the easiest way for them to hold a funeral, and it made sure that the dearly departed stayed departed.

Rondell had mixed feelings about this place. He had appreciated the little service they had held here when his kid brother died, but no one ever came here unless someone was dead. On a bad day, he would creep himself out with thoughts of tainted ground and bad vibes. And for all he knew, he could be right. They always did a sweep before anyone started the service, but he could never quite shake the feeling that there were demons somewhere laughing at them. Which, in most cases, there probably were.

He had already sent a few kids to get more wood, but it would be a while before they had enough. Only a fraction of the gang was here. Most of them had never met Neela, let alone known her well enough to come tonight. Vampires and demons didn't stop for any death except their own, sometimes not even then. Rondell spat on his hands and grabbed a rotting wooden table, dragging it towards the bonfire that was slowly growing. There was no body to burn this time; hell, nobody was really sure where she had died, but a bonfire was still called for. It was tradition, more than anything else.

His ears picked up the sounds of a truck coming closer and Rondell dropped the table, hoping it wasn't the cops. The vehicle that pulled up a short distance away was definitely not a cop car. Battered, dented, large wooded stakes strapped to the bonnet. Charles Gunn, brother at large.

When Gunn stepped out of the truck, Rondell managed to snatch a glimpse of a bag on the passenger seat. That was good enough for him. He grabbed the table again and began to tug it along. After a moment, when Gunn still hadn't moved, Rondell paused.

"You just gonna stand there all night?" he yelled.

"Heard you guys might need an extra player," Gunn called back.

Rondell smiled in spite of himself. "Maybe we do. You in?"

xxx

The light swept through the caves.

Nemo concentrated. Magiking the whole of Angel Investigation out of these caves sounded simple enough, but in reality it was a lot more complicated. Reducing each body to just a consciousness was doable, as was recreating the body to shove it back into. Timing was everything, timing and control. Too much power and he'd send the whole lot of them into the next century. Too little and they'd be lost in the gaps between the atoms.

What he was doing was very impossible. Very forbidden.

But then Nemo was hardly a conventional Power.

Wesley and Liam were already with him, although they were barely aware of it. Nemo was somewhat merciful; he didn't much care for their discomfort, but if the minds realised there were no bodies attached, they would die of shock. Better to fuzz things over.

He caught up Cordelia, carrying her away from an enraged Skip.

He found the twins, crouched together, and scooped them up.

Fred was just standing still, apparently dumbfounded, and Nemo grabbed her as well.

Too many thoughts, too many emotions, all boiled up in his makeshift carrier. He dumped them outside the cave and went back in.

He scanned the caves, once, twice, three times. Where was Angel? There. At the bottom of chasm? Well, that was dealt with easily enough.

_Give him to me, _he ordered to the caves themselves.

_No, _they replied. _You have taken seven, and cannot claim any more. Another must. _

Nemo paused, counted. Realised.

"Vita!" he screamed. "This won't help you win! You will never win!"

And the caves themselves laughed at the little deity, stamping his foot against an enemy he couldn't fight.

xxx

Wesley landed on the ground with a hard thud. Next to him, Cordelia rolled over and groaned.

"Did anyone get the number of that donkey cart?" Fred mumbled.

"Did anyone- What?" Wesley asked, sitting up.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Guys, better question," said Cordelia. "What the hell just happened and where the hell is Angel?"

Wesley looked around. "Wasn't Liam...?" he trailed off at Cordy's look of disbelief. "Did anyone else get separated from Angel?" he quickly asked instead.

"Yes!" Cordy and Fred said simultaneously.

Connor was helping Caitlin up, keeping one eye on the adults.

"Caitlin, did Angel find you?" Fred asked her. "And what happened to your eyes?"

"No and I don't know," she replied quietly, glancing at Connor, who squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"I found her, stuck in some weird vision or dream or something," he offered. "Then we're here without actually moving. Which one of you did that?"

"Don't look at me. I just float," Cordelia said.

"Well, the last place we saw Angel for sure was in that cave," Fred offered. "'Stead of bickering amongst ourselves, let's just go back and find him."

Connor clutched Caitlin's hand just a little bit tighter.

Cordelia and Wesley hurried back into the cave. Fred winced as a loud yelp of pain could be heard. After another moment, both came back out, with Cordelia rubbing her forehead.

"The same force that kept Lorne out isn't letting us get back in," Wesley reported.

"So how can we get Angel out?" Fred asked.

"I'll need to do some more research on these caves," Wesley said.

"No, Wesley!" Cordelia yelled. "You figure out a way to get Angel back right now!"

"I can't! There are powerful forces in those caves, we can't just waltz in again and drag Angel out, not without more information." He softened when he saw the look on her face. "We'll get him back, Cordy. I promise you."

"But when?" she asked, eyes filling with tears.

Liam watched from the top of the cliff as Wesley rocked a sobbing Cordelia.

"You sure about all of this, boss?" he asked, seemingly to the empty air around him.

_No, Liam, _came the reply, right into his head. _Nothing is certain anymore. We may already have failed. But will you stop fighting?_

"I have nothing left to fight for, boss. All my goals are accomplished or destroyed."

_Not all of them. Many people are still convinced of the existence of leprechauns, for example._

"That doesn't count, Nemo. And how many times do I have to tell you to stay out of my head?"

_At least once more, kiddo. Will you still fight for me?_

"What else would I do, boss?"

_So fight already. _

Liam smiled as the voice faded. Turning away from the distraught Angel Investigations, he pulled a mobile out of his pocket and dialled a number.

"Spike? I need you to do me one more favour."

xxx

Connor and Caitlin sat in Angel's room. Downstairs, the three adults were researching the mysterious caves and Connor could hear Cordelia and Wesley arguing even from the floor above the squabble.

"What did you do, Connor?" Caitlin asked. "What happened in there?"

"Nothing happened. Well, I met Liam again and then you were in some weird-ass trance thing, but apart from that..."

"What happened to Holtz?"

"He's gone. And not coming back. And very much alive."

"'Kay, so we have one father banished and the other missing. So much for family."

"We figure something out, Cait," he said, reaching out to hold her hand.

She jerked back, angry. "I don't want to figure something out, Connor. I want to know my dad!"

"Huh?"

"You were willing to risk everything to get to know him and now Angel's trapped and you don't even care."

"I do care! I just don't know if I should."

xxx  
Gunn watched the fire burn higher.

It had been a good evening. He still couldn't quite forgive Neela for what she said to him, but at least now he could remember some of the better times with her. And now that would have to be enough.

He looked around at his old friends. It wouldn't ever be the same as before, he knew that. He'd have to win back their trust, and his old position as leader. Rondell had been running the operation for almost two years and aside from the time he tried to blow up Lorne's club, he'd done a bang up job. Gunn couldn't just waltz back in and take it all away.

He was more surprised to realise that he didn't want to.

Two years as the muscle had taught Gunn that he didn't have to deal with everything on his own or with just his physical strength. He had learnt a lot.

Now it was time to teach some.

xxx

Angel stood at the bottom of the chasm. The fall hadn't hurt him too much, but climbing back up was going to be impossible. The stone wall was completely smooth, with no hand or foot holes that he could use. But he wasn't worried. The gang would find him, or he'd find a way out.

"Connor and Caitlin may be your children, but you are not their father."

Angel spun around. "Holtz? Come out and face me!"

A figure did start to appear in the darkness surrounding Angel. But it wasn't Holtz. It was small, slight. Blonde.

"Darla?"

As soon as he said her name, she disappeared. But not before he saw the horrific burns on her face, arms, neck.

"Darla!" he screamed.

A little girl skipped across his line of sight, a little girl with long curly brown hair and a cheerful smile. "Daddy told me not to let strangers in," she said, almost at random. As she passed Angel, he could see the red, bleeding wounds on her neck.

"Sarah Holtz," he breathed. "I'm sorry."

"And I'm dust. Like you," she replied brightly.

Angel held out his hand, staring in horror as the tips of his fingers crumbled to dust.

xxx

Author's Note:

To everyone who's reading and reviewing, or a combination of the two, I'm very sorry, but updates are going to be a little further apart than previously for the next month of two. Several people have said how much they appreciate the regular updates, so huge apologies. But I will continue to update – new chapters will turn up every fortnight at least. Oh, and I'm planning to sue whoever came up with GCSEs for undue stress. Or maybe just the government. Anyone want to help?

Thanks

- DarthGabithaTheHutt


	22. Chapter 22

Angel leant his elbows on the railing, looking down on the main hall of the hotel. He could see the gang, all gathered around a large table that had been dragged into the middle of the room, preparing a real feast. Wesley was pouring wine, Fred was nicking food off of Gunn's plate and Cordelia was just standing by the head of the table, hands on hips.

"Are you joining us or what?" she asked, smiling right at him.

Angel returned her smile and dashed down the stairs, scooping her up and kissing her deeply.

"Get a room, Dad," called Connor, who was balancing precariously on the back of a sofa. With a chuckle, Caitlin bumped into the sofa as she passed, sending her brother sprawling. "Oh, you are so going to pay for that," he said, leaping to his feet and dashing after her.

Expertly, Caitlin dived around Gunn, who stuck his arm out just in time to stop Connor.

"Cool it, kid. You're gonna break something," he said.

Behind Gunn, Caitlin stuck her tongue out at Connor.

Angel smiled, his arm around Cordelia. "I never thought we'd all be like this. Not after the summer."

"Be like what?" she asked, watching his face.

"A family," he replied. "Things were so bad then-"

"Stop that," Cordy said firmly. "We got you out, Angel, and everything's ok now."

"No, it's not," he said. "It's better." He leant in for another kiss.

He was stopped when Cordy put a finger on his lips. "Ashes to ashes, Angel," she whispered.

"What?"

Angel spun, trying to see where Cordelia had gone. The room had changed. The table was overturned, the food rotting on the floor, and the lights had gone out.

"Cordelia," he called, stepping forward. "Guys? Connor?"

"Yes, dad?"

Angel turned to see Connor standing behind him. The boy was holding Cordelia close to him, with a knife pressed against her throat.

"Like father like son," he said, and slashed Cordelia across the throat.

xxx

Liam leant back in his chair, wishing he hadn't picked up the phone in the first place.

"No, the spell still says he's still in the cave," he said. "And, no, it couldn't be wrong, Cordelia. Because I say so, that's why! Look, how's Wes doing with the translation?" He could hear the sounds of protesting in the background and judged the odds of Cordelia having just snatched the translation from Wesley. Liam pulled a piece of paper towards him and scribbled down the words Cordelia was dictating. "Uh huh. I'll check this and call again soon. Call me if anything happens."

"You should be asleep."

Liam looked over his shoulder at his father, putting the phone down. "So should you, Dad. I was talking to some friends across the pond."

"The ones who are looking for the vampire?" Mr Reilly asked, coming forward eagerly, if a little slowly with his walking stick and bad leg.

"Yes, Dad. One of them found some old texts about Vita's little house of shadows; they sent me the translation," Liam said, passing his father the paper. "He can't find a copy in the original language, so it's slow going."

"Hm," Mr Reilly said, examining it. "Who translated this?"

"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Roger's son."

"His style seems a little melodramatic, but he was good at interpretation from what I remember. This passage is wrong, though. It means 'From the birth of chaos' not 'From the beginning of the chaos'," Mr Reilly said, tapping the sheet.

"What difference does it make and how do you know?" Liam asked, crossing his arms.

"The difference is that the text implies that chaos is a living entity, 'birth', you see. And we have a copy of this in the original language downstairs in the library. I've been studying it for, oh, maybe three years now."

Liam sighed, wishing that this actually surprised him. "And you were going to tell me this when?"

"About now. I wanted to see how much trouble you'd get yourself into first. Now, what do we learn from this little experience?"

"My father's a really sadistic man?"

"Watch yourself, boy. It's genetic." Mr Reilly put the translation down and sat opposite his son. "They want more help than some prophecy checking, right? Wesley must already know that those caves will not allow anyone who loves Angel to retrieve him."

"Yeah, Cordy said something about that."

"So they want you to go and find their vampire?"

"Yeah."

"And you don't want to help him?"

"Nemo says he's important."

"Angel is a Champion, we all know that. It's not an answer."

"No, I don't want to help him! I want him to stay down there until he's sorry for what happened to Neela."

"It was her choice, Liam. Besides, what could Angel have done to help her with her problem?"

"I don't know. Something. He could've been nicer to her," Liam said, knowing he sounded stupid.

"He was nice, from what she told you," Mr Reilly replied.

"Can you not be rational? Just for a moment?"

"Well, you don't have to go. Let Erin do it."

"Erin?" Liam repeated, amazed that his father was even thinking about it. "As in the child who was Made ten years ago and should be dead, but somehow snapped back into her own body when Neela died? That Erin? She's not strong enough yet. We only brought her back four months ago and we don't even know if she's going to be able to stay. We don't even know how we did it."

"That's not true, Liam. She's here to stay; Nemo told you that. Admittedly, when Neela Unmade herself, that should have been the end of it, but Erin's really adapting remarkably well."

"Dad, she's fifteen!"

"Well, technically, she's twenty-five."

"She was dead for ten years! Erin has the mentality of a teenager and you want to send her to LA? Now? Have you been listening to the seers? To anyone?"

"Liam, calm down."

"Dad, she's _fifteen_!"

"Why do you have such a problem with this? Is it because you're still attracted to her?"

"Dad!"

"It should be her choice, Liam. And she wants to go there. She's a sort-of adult. Erin can do what she wants."

"You've already spoken to her about this?" Liam asked. "I thought we agreed that when you couldn't walk without a stick anymore, I could take control of the coven and you would stop being a back seat warlock!"

"Do you have that in writing?"

"Dad," Liam winged. "You can't just-"

"Do what has to be done? Angel is needed in LA and needed right now. Even Nemo says so, and you know how easily distracted that man gets. If you can't be adult enough to do the right thing, then let Erin go and do it. She won't go without your blessing," he added when Liam didn't respond.

"What if Angel recognises her? He'll hold her responsible for everything Neela did."

"Well, I doubt that, but Anathema's already made a powerful glamour for her. No one will recognise her, I promise. And you can make sure she won't get hurt. The Gods smile on protective magics."

"Okay, fine." But he didn't sound like it was 'fine'.

Mr Reilly blinked. "So Erin can go?"

"If she wants to," Liam replied.

Mr Reilly stood, leaning heavily on his walking stick and placed a fatherly hand on Liam's shoulder. "It's the right decision, Liam."

"I hope so, Dad. I really hope so."

xxx

Cordelia dropped the phone with an annoyed sigh. In almost four months, there hadn't been any sight or sound of Angel. Wesley's ancient scriptures were the first lead they had had and even now they weren't getting far. She was relying almost entirely on Liam finding something and the Irishman had already told her in no uncertain terms that he was helping her against his better judgement.

The Hyperion was so empty now. Gunn was back with his gang. He didn't call or visit very often, but Wesley had gone to see him. He was doing very well, apparently, but the British would probably say that about someone in a coma. At least Fred was happier. She'd been spending a lot of time with Wesley recently, enough time for Cordy to start thinking that maybe her old idea about the Texan hadn't been too far off after all.

She really did hope that Wesley and Fred would find happiness together. But a small part of her wondered if she was strong enough to watch either of them fall in love and be with each other when Cordelia herself couldn't be with Angel. She had known that her feelings for him were growing, but she'd never thought she could hurt this much when he was missing. It was just like when she was with Xander Harris. Cordelia had enjoyed all the time she spent with him, but never took the time to appreciate it and had just assumed that he would be there when she wanted or needed him. Admittedly, Angel wasn't cheating on her with his best friend, but it was same sort of sick, weepy feeling that was tugging at her innards.

But Cordelia would get her Angel back, come hell or high water. She would get him back and then make up for lost time. She had to.

xxx

Liam stood by the door, hands in pockets, staring at his feet. He heard her come down the stairs, heard her stop, she paused.

"I don't think you should go," he said, apparently to his shoes.

"Well, I do," she replied easily. "I'm not doing any good hanging around here with you treating me like I'm made of glass. Will you give me your blessing?"

He shook his head. "No blessing. No curse either, though."

"Well, that will have to be good enough, won't it?" she asked rhetorically. She walked past him, picking a backpack off the floor en route to the front door. But at the door itself, she hesitated. "Thank you for the summer," she whispered, opening the door with one hand and clutching the bag in the other.

Then she was gone, the door swinging shut behind her. Liam bowed his head, bit his lip, and tried not to cry.

xxx

Connor watched from a rooftop.

It was a good vantage point, allowing him a decent view of several alleyways, all of which led off main roads. Prime feeding grounds for vampires. He'd leant a lot in the past four months. How to spot a vampire before it vamped out, how to size up potential battle grounds. Connor had always assumed that he was faster and stronger than anything he would come up against; it was stupidly arrogant, but he had never been beaten in Quor'toth. But now he had leant from humans who had leant to play their disadvantages as advantages and how to win a hopeless battle, and Connor was a better fighter than he had ever been before.

With a smile, he spotted a likely candidate for his patented burst of violence. Connor stood and stepped neatly off the rooftop.

xxx

Connor walked carefully through the streets. The vampire had come this way, he was sure of it. A wooden stake was held in his hand, not tightly, but confidently. He was ready.

A noise behind made him spin, stake raised and already falling towards the un-beating heart-

Connor pulled back at the last second. "Sorry," he said. "Thought you were dead."

"Not yet, kid," Gunn replied. "When are you going to stop doing that?"

"When all the bloodsuckers are dust," Connor said with a smile. "You get my vamp?"

"Yeah, man. Didn't realise it was yours."

"Plenty more," the boy said, slipping the stake back up his sleeve.

"How come you're out here on your own?" Gunn asked as the two vampire hunters started to walk.

"Caitlin went with Fred to Lorne's," Connor said. "She doesn't enjoy hunting like she used to."

"She went partying with the demons? Doesn't sound like Caitlin."

"Fred wanted her along. Something about a source, news on Angel," Connor admitted.

"News on the big guy? Finally."

"Yeah," Connor said. "Finally."

xxx

Lorne's grand opening, three months ago, had lived up to all of Caritas' standards and raised higher hopes for Caelum's success. Right now, the new bar was packed of demons, vampires and humans, all looking for a nice non-violent evening. According to Lorne, all he needed was a decent bar-keeper and he'd be set up for life.

Caitlin had to admit that she liked it here. The curious mix of humans and demons was not new to her, although the lack of blood had taken some getting used to. This was one place she could be certain of peace in, and although she would never tell Connor, Caitlin felt more safe here than in her own room. Lorne himself had always been kind to her, explaining things to her without her having to ask the questions first.

In Caelum, she also had the added bonus of not being stared at. Caitlin had accepted her scarred face with a practicality that had depressed Cordy, but normal humans seemed to have a harder time dealing with it. In a room full of horns and tails, a dodgy eye didn't attract any attention at all. Fred stood out more here than Caitlin did.

Fred was in a corner, speaking in low tones to a small demon. She'd insisted on Caitlin keeping her distance; Caitlin's reputation was anything but comforting to a nervous demon. But when the tiny woman felt Caitlin watching her, she looked up and smiled at the teenager.

Caitlin smiled back and turned her attention to the crowd, tucking her hair behind her ear. She'd made enough of a reputation over the summer that Fred's contact refused to talk to her, even in Caelum. When Cordy had heard that, she'd rolled her eyes and muttered something about, _like father, like daughter._ And Caitlin had grinned back before she realised what she was doing. When Holtz had compared her to Angel, it had hurt. But now she didn't mind. She didn't know Angel. But that one conversation and hug they had shared in the hospital, before he disappeared, had been enough to give her a little bit of hope. When he got back, Caitlin would get to know him. After all, it wasn't like the guy didn't have time.

xxx

Connor and Caitlin were fighting.

Part of Angel knew this was wrong. His children never fought, at least not with each other.

Connor swung, Caitlin ducked. Offence, defence. Dark, Light. Death, Life. Total chaos with Angel trapped in the middle of it.

Caitlin staggered, nearly lost her balance. At the last moment, Connor caught her arm and helped her to steady herself. They smiled at each other.

Connor slammed his fist into his sister's head, hard enough to shatter bone and splatter blood. As Caitlin dropped lifeless to the floor, Connor wiped his bloody hand on his jeans.

"Life an ever-hating bitch, Dad," he said. "Doesn't it just kill you?"

xxx

It was late when Connor got back to the hotel. He'd gone with Gunn on a routine sweep, only meeting a single pair of new risen vampires. He enjoyed spending time with Gunn; he was the only one who really got what it was like to be a true fighter. Sometimes Connor needed the simplicity of their friendship, rather than negotiating the mine field that was his relationship with Cordy and Wes, who seemed to have assumed the roles of responsible adults. Holtz had never given a damn about what time Connor came in from a hunt and the boy was having a hard time adjusting. And tonight was no exception.

"Where have you been?" Cordelia demanded, arms crossed over her chest. It was a sign Connor knew too well.

"Hunting," he replied. "With Gunn," he added as an afterthought. She always got less annoyed when he fought alongside someone.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were on the phone. I didn't want to interrupt," Connor said. From her expression, Connor knew it wasn't a good enough excuse. Trying to look less guilty, he hung his head and scuffed the floor. "In case it was about Angel," he whispered.

In reality, he had been loitering as close as he dared, trying to hear every word. Connor had intended to leave LA with Caitlin as soon as she was ready, but she didn't want to leave, and Connor had been ok with that. There was no chance of Angel returning, and as long as the vampire was far, far away, Caitlin need never know that he was evil. But when Wesley had turned up that old book, Connor had thought his world was going to be destroyed all over again.

He had spent months with Angel's friends. Months of seeing their concern for the vampire, of hearing about the great Angel, protector of the small and, if Fred was to be believed, cuddly. It had changed things, to be frank. Made him rethink what he did. And now he was stuck. Either Angel was good and Connor had seriously mucked everything up, or he was evil and that wasn't as comforting as it had once been.

Even as Cordy's expression softened, Connor turned away and started to walk up the stairs. He still hadn't told anyone what he'd done, not even Caitlin. And he knew he had to, soon, or he'd lose everything.

xxx  
Erin stood outside a plainly painted door, trying to find a happy medium between a polite knock and hammering hard enough to wake the dead. Although, she thought with an ironic smile, that was the reason she was here. It was some god-awful time, but it wasn't long before the door was yanked open.

"Hi!" she said, before an irate Wesley could say anything. "Sorry about the time and all that, but I've been sent by Liam Reilly to help you with a missing bloodsucker."

The Englishman blinked. He'd been asleep at his desk before the thumping on his front door woke him. Fixing his glasses more securely on his nose, he peered at his visitor. She was young, mid-twenties at best, but seemed even younger, with very short red hair and lots of piercings in her ears, even a silver ring in her eyebrow. A silver chain was wrapped around her left wrist and there was a pair of pendants draped around her neck, one wooden and one of dull metal. A silver ring adorned her right thumb.

"Are you a Watcher?" he asked incredulously.

"God, no. Freelance," she replied, smiling. "I don't have the discipline for that sort of work. Or the training. Or the expertise. Or anything really."

"Why did Liam send you?"

Erin tried not to scowl at him. "You needed someone neutral. Mr Reilly, Liam's dad, I mean, apparently had a copy of that text you were working from. He'd been working on it for years, so it was easy for him to fill the gaps. That strange force is keeping you out of the cave because you and your friends love the vampire. I don't even know the bloodsucker, so hopefully I'll be allowed in. I can then get the vampire out," she explained. "And time is of the essence here. Something about prolonged starvation mucking up his head, or something, combining with the visions induced by the cave means you might have a crazy critter on your hands. And something about the cave moving."

Wesley nodded in agreement. It fitted with all of the research he had managed to do. "But why you? Why not Liam?"

"Liam didn't want to come. Right now he hates Angel, something to do with a friend dying or something. The rest of the coven is needed there, something big is going on or about to start or something," she said, shrugging. "I was also the only one who would help a vampire. No offence to your boss. Can you take me to caves already?"

"Of course," Wesley replied, grabbing his coat and car keys and shutting the door behind him. "Pardon my rudeness, but I don't even know your name."

"I'm Erin O'Neil," she said as they walked back down the corridor. "And you're Wesley Wyndham Pryce, right?"

"Um, yes."

"Ok, introductions done. Shall we go before this gets any more awkward?"

xxx

Slowly, Fred put down the phone. "Cordelia," she called.

The young seer came out of the office, yawning hugely. "Yeah?"

"That was Wesley," Fred explained, gathering up some notes. "A friend of Liam has come from Ireland. She knows how to get Angel back; they're on their way now." She looked up just in time to see the tail of Cordy's coat disappearing out the door.

xxx

Wesley and Erin stood outside the cave in silence.

Erin was checking and re-checking her jewellery, of all things, and rummaging in her rucksack for something. With a triumphant grin, she pulled up a small torch.

"This might take a while," she told Wesley, hooking the bag's straps over her shoulders. "Could you dash and get some blood for your boss? He'll need it after so long."

Reluctantly, Wesley nodded. "Will you be ok?"

"Well, if I'm not, there's not much you could do to help me," she replied practically. "So why don't we assume that I will be?"

Wesley smiled and nodded again. "Good luck."

Erin started to walk into the cave. "Don't need luck, Wesley." She took a deep breath and strode confidently passed the point that had blocked everyone else. "Need a bloody miracle."

Looking around, she had to admit that she could see why Liam had no desire to return here. Suddenly leaving the coven to 'find herself' seemed like such a stupid idea. Hoping what he had told her was true, she spoke up again.

"Mr Nemo?"

"Hey, kid," he replied. "You feeling ok about this?"

"Guess so. Aside from the whole I-must-be-crazy thing, I mean. And the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing here, or, well, anywhere really."

"Just keep walking. These caves will be throwing all kinds of visions at you, but just ignore them and keep moving. I'll plead your case to the caves and they'll let you find Angel. Ok?" the Power asked.

"Yeah," she said, nodding.

Nemo grinned at her and vanished.

"Why do people keep sending me into hell?" she muttered to herself, and continued walking.

It didn't take long for the first image to hit her. It wasn't as bad as she had feared, just a young man who appeared to be missing a head. No one she knew. The next was a woman, tied to a stake stuck in the solid stone floor, who was being burnt alive. Then another man, bleeding from a chest wound and begging for help.

Erin kept her head down and kept walking, passing through the visions as if they were smoke. One hand snaked up to recount her various earrings in the need for reassurance. Three studs on one lobe, two on the other, a cartilage piercing and an eyebrow ring made seven pieces of silver, all blessed and charmed by the entire coven. The idea of magic earrings had been a recent one and several of the piercings were still sore when she touched them. As she walked right through a sobbing child with half her skull missing, she had to admit that it had been worth it. The combination of magic and discomfort would help to keep her grounded in a place where, if she lost herself, she would stay lost for good. And she had had quite enough of being lost, thank you very much.

"Nemo," she whimpered as more ghosts tried to grab her. They were getting more solid, she could feel their fingers brushing her arm, a sure sign that she was getting closer to her goal. "Come on, big guy."

Another spectre seized her arm and Erin shrieked. It was a version of Liam, his skin cracked and burnt, his throat slit and dripping blood. Desperately, she twisted out of his hold, only to run into Mr Reilly, who was little more than a rotting, animated corpse. He threw her backwards and she slammed into the wall, right next to Wesley, who was holding two small bloodstained bundles.

She didn't want to see what was in those bundles. Erin shoved herself away from the wall, forcing her way through the crowd of the dead that were trying to block her way. Wherever they didn't want her to go, that was exactly where she was going. But there were so many of them and only one of her. A perfectly timed burst of momentum sent her past the cold, grasping hands, to land on her hands and knees just past the moaning crowd.

A hand was offered.

Erin looked up into a pale face topped with unruly brown hair.

"Angel?" she said, taking the hand.

He helped her up and looked at her for a moment, as if wondering what she was. Uncertainly, Erin smiled at him.

She didn't even have time to scream as the vampire lived up to his species and pulled her close, burying his teeth in her neck.


	23. Chapter 23

Erin kicked wildly out and caught Angel right between the legs. The vampire pulled back, yelping in pain and Erin kicked him again, knocking him to the floor. Dropping to one knee beside the vampire, Erin rummaged in her bag until she came up with a small leather case. In it were two syringes. One contained a sedative strong enough to keep Angel out for at least an hour, the other was a mixture of red blood cells and some healing mojo. With a frown, she selected the sedative and stabbed Angel with the needle.

"Was going to feed you," she told the unconscious Angel. "You didn't have to bite me." Erin grabbed the blood-magic mixture and injected it into the vampire's neck.

She didn't get a reply, but she felt better for saying it. Putting the case back into the bag, Erin rubbed her neck. She'd never been bitten before and she didn't like it, although Angel had barely punctured the skin. Odd; in his position, she would have drained the first human she saw dry. Not that she wasn't grateful for the insane bloodsucker's strange self-control.

Mentally shrugging, Erin grabbed one of Angel's arms. The dead had vanished as soon as she had reached Angel and so there was no one to stand in her way as she dragged the missing Champion back towards the world.

At least that was the plan. The cave was an anomaly in time and space; neither was fixed for this expanse of stone. With its purpose served, it was unpinning itself from its current location. If not for the intervention of Nemo, Erin and Angel would have been dragged with the caves into who-knew-where. Unfortunately for his passengers, this form of assistance was simply to catapult them out of the caves. Literally.

Angel and Erin smacked into the ground outside the cave. With a groan, Erin rolled away from the vampire and stared up at the night sky.

"I am never doing that again," she said. "Not even for a bloody Champion." Her hands were still shaking, damn it, even though she was perfectly safe here. Or would be perfectly safe the moment she was on a plane back to Ireland.

"Erin? Are you ok?" Wesley asked, kneeling by her and helping her sit up.

"I'm fine. Deal with your boss," she said, shrugging out of his hold.

As Wesley supported Angel's hand, tipping jarfuls of blood down the semi-unconscious vampire's throat, Erin got to her feet. Jewellery, check. Bag, check. Newly recovered Champion, check. Mission accomplished.

"Where are you going?" the Englishman said as she started to walk away.

"The deal was I get your boss back. Voila. There he damn well is. I'm out of here, Wes. I did not come across the entire Atlantic and most of America to be attacked by a psycho vampire. I can do that at home. So bye."

And with that, she simply left.

Wesley let her go, keeping his attention Angel, who although not completely unconscious was definitely not completely there. When he'd fed enough, Wesley would get him back to the hotel for more rest and healing. For the moment, all he could offer was cheap pigs' blood. It would have to be enough.

"Wesley!"

He jerked around at the sound. Cordelia was only a few feet away and closing fast, her eyes fixed on Angel.

"Oh my god," she said.

"He's okay. He'll be okay," Wesley hastened to reassure her.

She wasn't listening, though. Cradling Angel's head in her lap, Cordelia couldn't take her eyes off the man she hadn't seen in four months. His face was even paler than she remembered, but it was same unruly hair and same face. Same eyes, even if they were unfocused.

Angel was back.

Almost.

xxx  
Caitlin's room was mostly full of books. The months spent with Fred had sent her reading skills rocketing and now Caitlin spent more time reading than fighting. It was hard for her to see the pages clearly and she had to squint most of the time, but at least there wasn't an anxious Connor hovering by her shoulder the whole time and getting in the way.

In Quor'toth, she and Connor had often fought together, each using their own strengths to compensate for the other's weaknesses. They had always known when the other needed help and when to back off and let the other cope on their own. Since Holtz had taken most of her sight and nearly her life as well, Connor had become almost too protective. He hated her fighting, worried about her weaknesses and just got in the way. Caitlin's sight might be damaged, but she could still take care of herself. Not that Connor believed that, of course.

So when he went fighting for pleasure or to work out some anger, she'd stay in and read. He spent too much time watching her when they fought together for him to get a decent brawl going. Currently, she was reading some book called _Lord of the Rings_, on Fred's recommendation. It was pretty good, she had to admit, although the plot was making her head spin.

Marking her place, she put the book to one side and stood, stretching stiff muscles. Maybe Connor was back already. Not that he really talked to her anymore. He was hiding something from her, though who knew what it was.

Connor interrupted her musing by bursting in through her door. "Cait, they found him!"

"What? They found Angel? How?"

"That Liam guy helped them. I heard Fred talking to Wesley on the phone. He's coming with Angel, now."

"Really?" Her smile faltered. "Con? What is it?"

Connor couldn't lie to his sister, well, he could, but she always knew. And he couldn't tell her the truth. Holtz had hurt her enough and he was damned if he'd make her give up on someone else.

"Why are you scared of Angel?" she demanded. "Every single time someone mentions him, you get twitchy. What happened?"

Why, oh why couldn't she be just a little less smart? "Cait, I just... I'm not sure we can trust him."

"You want us to leave again? Can't we even give him a chance?"

"I don't know!" he yelled. "God, I don't know anything anymore!" Connor bit his own tongue to stop himself saying anything else, to stop himself hurting Caitlin. "I can't be in this place with Angel. I just can't, ok?"

He pulled the door open and left the room. As he walked down the corridor, Caitlin matched speed with him.

"What are you-"

"You or Angel?" she said softly. "What did you expect?"

"I don't deserve a sister like you."

"Yeah, but you've got me anyway."

xxx

It wasn't every day that Lorne swung by the Hyperion Hotel, but one of his clients had given him a heads-up to a new player arriving in town. It would only be right to give the others a warning; sides seemed to be rather optional these days, although he had it on very good information who the new player actually was.

He was just across the street when two figures sprinted out of the hotel and away into the surrounding streets. Lorne recognised those auras – the twins had just left the building. Damn. He pulled a mobile out of his pocket and quickly dialled.

"Hello, L.A.X.?" he asked. "What time is the next flight to Ireland?"

xxx

Even after four months of non-voluntary fasting, Angel still weighed a ton. It took the combined effort of Wesley and Cordelia to manoeuvre him from the cliffs to the car, and then later out of the car and into the hotel. With a grunt of effort, they put him on the couch as Fred almost fell down the stairs.

"Oh my god, is he ok?" she asked. "He looks all..."

"Pale and starved?" Cordelia offered, gently supporting Angel's head. "Wes, there's more blood in the fridge."

Wesley nodded, hurrying off.

"Fred, um, what about the twins? Wesley!"

"There's none here," he called back. "I think it went lumpy and we threw it away."

"Damn, we'll have to get more. Fred, can you get Connor or-"

"They're not here."

"What?"

"I told them Angel was coming back and they freaked, ran out before I could stop them. I don't know what scared them so much, but..." Fred trailed off, shrugging helplessly.

"But Caitlin seemed so keen to meet Angel properly," Wesley said, looking and sounding amazed.

"Look, we'll find them after Angel is ok, ok?" Cordelia butted in. "He's needs blood, _now_."

"I'll go get some," Fred said, grabbing her bag from the reception desk.

"Come on, hero," Cordelia whispered, stroking Angel's cold face. "Snap out of it."

xxx

Erin was bored, a rare occurrence for her. She hadn't often been bored in the summer and her uncle Paul had always kept her busy when she was young. Just the thought of her old mentor made her chest ache. And he'd been dead for ten years. Ten years, gone just like that. Ten years in which the demon that killed her had hijacked her skin and been thoroughly unpleasant, as Mr Reilly tended to put it. Then Liam manages to exorcise the demon in an attempt to weaken the guys that put it in her in the first place and somehow she was back. A quick charm to stop anyone recognising her, which she wore permanently around her neck, and she was all set.

Now she just had to catch up with her life. It turned out that missing a decade of your life really wasn't as fun as it sounded. The silliest things confused her. Things had definitely been simpler when she had last been in her own body. And now she had to sit in an airport for six hours until her flight opened with nothing but a copy of _Dracula _to keep her occupied. Although it was interesting to see how close Bram Stoker had been with some of his ideas about vampires.

She glanced over as someone flopped into the seat next to her, then outright stared at him. The man, or demon really, was green-skinned and completely conspicuous in a red suit, with a cap and large sunglasses in an attempt to hide the greenness. As he smiled at her, Erin noticed the horns.

"Hey," he said.

"Uh, hi," Erin replied, trying to edge away without it being too obvious.

"So you're the girl Liam Reilly sent to fetch back our dark avenger?"

"Sorry, do you mean Angel?" she asked, confused.

"That I do, sweetcakes."

"You know, normal people introduce themselves before leaping in with terms of affection."

"Forgive me. I'm Lorne." And he offered a green hand.

Erin shook it. Liam had mentioned a Lorne when ranting about Angel and his friends. "Erin O'Neil."

"Oh, I knew it," Lorne said, grinning. "Would you mind humming a few bars?"

"What?"

"Indulge a demon?"

Erin tilted her head on one side, looking at him. Then she shrugged and started to hum _Jerusalem. _After only a few bars, Lorne was almost bouncing off his seat with excitement.

"I knew it!"

"Knew what, exactly?" Erin asked.

"How the hell did you do it?"

"Do what?"

Glancing around, Lorne lowered his voice. "Get rid of Jo'Nekra."

Erin nearly choked on thin air. "How the hell do you about that?"

"I didn't grow up with my head buried in the sand. I hear things," Lorne said. "And I read things. Well, people. Well, you."

"Oh, you're one of those demons? Brilliant." Erin crammed _Dracula _into her bag and stood up.

"So you're just going to walk away?"

"Pretty much."

"Why?"

"Look, I saved your pet vampire already so I'm going home." She started to walk away.

Lorne followed. "Erin, why aren't you fighting?"

"What am I supposed to be fighting?"

"How about the Forces of Darkness? Or the Clan?"

"I used to be part of the Forces of Darkness, ok? I really don't see what I could contribute. Go recruit someone else."

"That's it? You get away so no one else matters?"

"What are you talking about this time?"

Lorne frowned. "Liam never told you about Caitlin?"

"Who's Caitlin?"

"A girl. The Clan targeted her last year. Using you."

Erin spun around. "It was not me!"

"Well, not technically, but still."

"Still what? I'm meant to spend the rest of my life atoning for something that happened when I was technically dead?"

"Erin, this is not about atonement. This is about stopping Caitlin going through the same thing."

"Her family can protect her."

"Not when she scared of her own father. That's the problem. She's run away from her father and he was just about the only one that could protect her."

"Well then, she can take care of herself. How old is she, anyway?"

"Late teens."

"Then it's too late for the Clan for use her."

"They might still try."

"They won't risk it. The specification for Making a Hunter are very specific."

"You were over fifteen when they Made you."

"No, I was just fifteen. As in, about two minutes and even that was very risky. Look, whatever your game is here, I'm not interested. I'm going home, you can crawl back to the hell hole you came from."

"Your father wouldn't want you to quit."

"Well, my father is dead. Just like my mother, my uncle, all of them killed through trying to do the right thing. So forgive me if I don't want to join them again just yet."

This time, when Erin stalked away, Lorne let her go. There wasn't anything else he could say.

xxx

The Hyperion Hotel was so quiet without the twins. Wesley had thought that it was too empty over the summer, without Angel lurking in a corner somewhere, but he'd got used to having Connor training in the stupidest of places or seeing Fred helping Caitlin with her reading. Now Angel was back, lurking in his room admittedly, and it was even stranger than when he had been gone. At least he had had some idea why Angel wasn't there.

There wasn't even much to do. The past four months had been almost entirely about finding Angel, only doing enough cases to stop them losing the hotel and to put food on the table. Hopefully word would spread that Angel was back and business would start trickling in again, but until then he had nothing to do. Nothing but watch and wait until his life started moving again. If it ever did.

"I don't get it," Fred muttered, peering fiercely at old case files.

"Pardon?" Wesley said.

"What in the heck is going on here."

"Well, Angel was somehow trapped in a magical cave that doesn't appear to be there anymore, but we got him out thanks to Liam and a very unusual woman who has since wandered off somewhere. Then it seems that when they found out Angel was coming back, the twins got frightened by something and so have run off to who knows where," Wesley said. He'd spent quite a lot of time thinking about the whole situation.

Fred blushed. "No, Wesley. I meant the filing system."

xxx

Lorne wasn't surprised when someone banged on his door long after closing time. Caelum had only been up and running for a few months, but Caritas' reputation had brought many customers flocking to the friendly green demon at all hours for help or advice, or in some cases just a chance to sleep in a protected area.

When he yanked open the door, though, to reveal Erin standing there looking very sheepish, he was just a little surprised.

"You're going to have to help me, you know," she said. "I'm not exactly used to this sort of thing."

"I know," he said, smiling at her. "Come in."

Lorne stood aside to let Erin in and followed her into the main bar area.

"So, how come no one's recognised you yet?" he asked. "That body of yours spent a good two months here before the summer."

"Liam rigged up a spell for me," Erin explained, holding up a wooden necklace on a leather strip. "It's meant to stop people connecting me to their memories of Jo'Nekra. With tremendous effect obviously."

"Oh, it was working on me until you sang," Lorne reassured her. "Provided no one else tries to read your aura and future, you'll be fine."

"Yay."

"Why'd you come back?"

"I'm not really sure. Something big is coming, Lorne. Liam can feel it, his seers can feel it, even I can feel it. And it is not nice."

"Very comforting."

"Well, that's life for you," she said. "So tell me, what am I going to do here?"

"Well, I do need a bartender. Can you make a Sea-Breeze?"

"What's a Sea-Breeze?"

"You'll be fine," Lorne said, forcing a smile.

xxx

Connor staked the first vamp and tossed the stake over his shoulder. Caitlin caught in and slammed it into another undead heart. With practised ease, she brought a vampire's head down to connect with her risen knee and threw the groaning figure into two of his pack. At am almost indistinguishable signal from Connor, Caitlin dropped to her knees, crouching over. Her brother ran two steps and used her back as a launching pad, catching a vampire in throat with his foot. Connor swung his left arm forward, slicing the vampire's head cleanly off with his wrist-blade.

If you ignored the fact they were in a LA back alley, it was just like old times for the twins. They were back in the old routine.

With the last of the vampires upgraded from undead to full-dead, Caitlin tossed the borrowed stake back to Connor. "I thought you said this building would be clear," she said, knocking vamp dust off her jeans. "Not that I don't mind a good fight." Stretching out her arm, she checked the stitching on her arm guard.

Connor shrugged, wiping a trickle of blood off his lip. One undead sucker had got in a lucky hit. "We're almost on top of Gunn's territory. Why would vampires stay here?"

"'Cause they're almost as dumb as you."

"We'll try somewhere else," Connor said, turning away.

"Why don't we just ask Gunn? He's always helped us before."

"He works for Angel."

"Not anymore. He quit, remember?" Caitlin propped her hand on her hips, annoyed. "Just like we did. We can't sleep in shifts for ever, you know. And if we don't find somewhere I can fortify, we'll be seriously easy targets."

Connor smiled slightly. "How can you see things so clearly?"

"I can't, remember?" She tapped her bad eye for emphasis. "Look, just go and talk to Gunn and I'll ask Lorne about it."

"I can't believe you can ask a demon for help."

"There are worse demons than Lorne around."

"And we're related to most of them."

xxx

Cordelia sat quietly in a corner of Angel's room, watching over the sleeping vampire. After five days of sleep and enough pig's blood to drown half of LA in, Angel was definitely looking better. Now she just had to wait for him to wake up again. Getting up and stretching her stiff arms, Cordelia crossed to the curtains and peered out at night time LA.

"Cordy."

"Angel," she cried, spinning around. "You're awake?"

Angel was sitting up in his bed, looking blearily around. "What the hell happened?"

"Before or after you tumbled into the rabbit hole?"

"Huh?"

"Too soon for jokes, huh?" She tried a smile, a weak, watered down version of her usual. "What do you remember?"

"I don't know, I saw a lot of stuff or imagined it. Kinda blurred together."

Cordelia picked a mug of warm blood and offered it to him. He took it gratefully and started to gulp it down.

"We were in the caves, looking for Caitlin," she prompted. "And then we got thrown out by who knows what and you weren't."

"How long ago was that?" he asked, wiping blood off his mouth.

"Four months, three weeks and six days. You've been here for five days though. Asleep. Sometimes snoring."

"I don't snore."

"Beg to differ, sweetie."

"So how did you get me out?"

"I bullied Liam into it."

"Liam? Liam Reilly?"

She nodded. "He sent someone who could get into the caves for us and they got you out."

"Wait, what about Connor, Caitlin?"

"They both came out of the caves. Connor's been fighting everything left, right and centre. Caitlin's eyes were healed in some way, not even Wes is sure how." She paused. What the hell was she meant to tell him now? That both of them had scampered like demonic bunnies when they heard Angel was returning?

"Where are they?"

"Angel, they kinda, you know, needed some space or time to think and who knows what the kids of today..."

"They're not here, are they?" he interrupted.

"I'm sorry. They ran away. Just before you came back."

xxx

She was an attractive woman, certainly enough.

Oh, all right. Calling her attractive was like calling the Amazon a trickle of water. Her curves alone were enough to make anyone stare and half of Caelum couldn't take their eyes off her. Add to that long scarlet hair, tight red clothing and a seriously sultry smile, complete with bright scarlet lipstick, and this girl could have anyone she wanted.

Apparently, who she wanted was a large, slimy Yarbnie.

Erin, mixing a sea-breeze for Lorne, couldn't understand it. She had nothing against Yarbnies, far from it, but they were hardly the most glamorous of creatures, what with the pallid skin, strange humps and dripping slime. Liam had once told her that Yarbnies had evolved past sexual reproduction out of pure desperation. Shaking her head at the oddities of people, she slid the drink down the bar to her waiting boss. He had warned her that she would meet a lot of weird people in this job.

Lorne leant against the bar and smiled at his patrons. It wasn't until he looked towards the door that the smile slipped. Caitlin was standing there, peering past several larger demons. Lorne slipped over to her.

"None of your father's friends are here," he said, placing a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"You heard?" Caitlin asked, head on one side.

"Right now, there are billboards harder to read than you. Are you feeling lost, by any chance?"

"Maybe a little. We were hoping you knew somewhere we could stay in, you know, without having to fight demons all the time. And that maybe Angel wouldn't come looking for us in."

"You could always go home," Lorne offered, taking Caitlin's hand and leading her towards the bar. "Angel would never hurt you."

"I'm going with Connor on this one, Lorne. He's never been wrong before."

"Well, I hope he is this time." Lorne took hold of Caitlin's arm and led her over to the bar. "Caitlin, this is Erin."

Erin smiled at the girl. "Hey."

"I've heard of a place where you stay," Lorne said to Caitlin. "Erin, could you take her here?" He held out an address to her.

Erin tried not to gape at her new employer. "Um, sure."

After Caitlin had thanked Lorne, Erin led her through the room behind the bar and out of the back door. They walked together down the street as Erin checked the address again.

"This place is in gang territory," Erin said. "I think they're vampire hunters, so there should be fewer demons and whatnot around."

Caitlin nodded but offered no comment in return.

"So what are you hiding from?" Erin tried again.

"A vampire."

"Can't you just stake him?"

"It's complicated."

"Always is," Erin muttered.

xxx

The lucky Yarbnie, known as Keith to his few friends, was neither intelligent enough nor willing to realise that is was more than a little strange for such a beautiful woman to pay any attention to him. Of course, with that sort of body pressing against his own, he could barely form a single rational thought.

Which was precisely what the woman wanted. Smiling at him, and trying not to breath through her nose, she leant closer and whispered, "Want to go somewhere a little more... private?"

Keith could barely nod his assent as she took hold of his hand and gently pulled him towards the door.

xxx

Connor watched from the shadows.

It was clear Gunn wasn't in the best of moods. There was no other reason as to why he would be fighting alone. He was still on top of his game, though, having dispatched two vamps without any particular trouble. Connor sighed; he'd have preferred never to talk to anyone connected to Angel again, but Caitlin was right. They needed somewhere to stay and he disliked the idea of running out of LA, as if he was scared or something. He had to know which side Gunn was on, whether he could be counted on if Angel came after Caitlin. Steeling himself, Connor stepped forward.

"Hey, Gunn," he said quietly.

"Hey, kid," Gunn replied. "Fang Gang's pretty worried about you, splitting like that."

"Kinda not ready to live with Angel. Didn't feel right. Kinda reacted without thinking. Again."

"Yeah, that's a real problem for you, isn't it?"

Connor gave a small smile. "Caitlin, being, you know, sensible, said you might know a place where we can stay?"

"Yeah, come on, hellspawn." Gunn started to walk off.

Connor didn't move. "Gunn," he started tentatively.

"I won't tell no one where you are," Gunn said without even turning around.

"How did you-?"

"I know what it's like when you need to be lost," he said. "Come on. I know a few spots you can crash in."

xxx

Keith couldn't believe his luck. It had turned out that the more private location his new friend had had in mind was just the alley behind Caelum, but...

His train of thought was derailed and then ripped apart for scrap as the woman kissed him, brutally passionate. A thin whimper of joy escaped from his covered mouth, but it rapidly changed to a muffled scream.

The woman pinned him against the wall with far more strength than she should've had. As the unfortunate Yarbnie turned from milky white to a muted red, she kept her lips pressed against Keith's, feeling her skin hum with raw life force. When she pulled back, Keith had time to see the spark of laughter in her eyes before he crumbled to dust like a staked vampire.

Empusa smiled, licking her lips. She'd never tried Yarbnie before, but people were right. They were just like cheeseburgers. Humming softly to herself, Empusa walked down the road, in search of wine, people of non-specified gender or species, and song.

A faint gust of wind scooped up the sad remains of Keith and swept him down the road.

xxx


	24. Chapter 24

Erin had tried to talk to Caitlin, she really had, but to be honest, she'd had more successful conversations with dogs. She wished the girl would say or do something, anything, that would make her seem more... human. Alive. Happy. If the Clan really was interested in Caitlin, the girl would need all the humanity she could muster. Judging from the impression Erin was getting, that wouldn't be a great deal.

"Any other enemies?" she asked Caitlin, who shook her head. "Good. This building is in a vampire hunter's territory, it should be safe. Door's locked though, so I don't..." She trailed off as Caitlin ripped the padlock off the doors. "Well, that works."

Caitlin shrugged in reply. It was nothing compared to what Connor would've done. "Which hunter is it?"

"I don't know the locals yet. Can you tell if there are any vamps?"

"Trail's cold. I'd say not, but if they came in another way, I can't tell."

"Right. Let's try this then," Erin said, fumbling in her bag. She pulled out a small glass sphere and flipped up the lid, dropping what looked like a vampire canine into it, then shook it a few times, holding it just inside the building. It began to glow a soft faint pink. "No vamps recently."

"What is that?" Caitlin asked, unable to take her eyes off it.

"A real magic-8 ball. You dump a bit of your preferred species in the sphere and it'll light up when it senses similar essence patterns. Basically, the dimmer it is, the safer you are."

"How does it work?"

"Magic. Hence the name. Well, you're the fighter," Erin said, gesturing toward the door. "After you."

xxx

Lorne glanced up as the door to Caelum reopened. He always tried to meet newcomers personally. But this wasn't a newcomer; it was the woman who had left earlier with the Yarbnie. As she chose another partner and went back on the dance floor, Lorne shook his head. Some people just had no staying power.

xxx

"So, how long are you planning to stay in here for?" Cordelia asked, sticking her head around Angel's door.

"Cordy, I really don't want to talk about this," he replied shortly.

"What, the fact that you spent four months going crazy in a cave that you only went into to try and help your daughter and then when you get out of the aforementioned cave you find out that your children were so worried about you coming back that they ran away from the home they'd spent the summer happily enough in?"

"Yeah, that."

Cordelia came further into the room, sitting next to Angel on the bed. She didn't say anything, but just sat there quietly. Waiting.

"What was he like in the summer?" Angel asked, looking firmly at his clasped hands.

"Quiet, a good fighter, very protective of Caitlin. Apparently immune to nagging," Cordelia said. "He asked a lot about you."

"Why bother? He doesn't want to know me."

"Well, my guess would be he was checking that you were the monster he thought you were. And every time I told him what you were like, he got quieter and quieter. He thought more about you and what he'd seen of you. Until he almost started to look hopeful when we got a lead on you."

Angel closed his eyes, running one hand through his hair. "So you were getting through to him."

"I think so. 'Course, with Connor you can never really tell. He's got that whole brooding-man-of-mystery thing really working for him."

"And then he leaves. Because of me."

Cordelia shrugged, and slipped her hand into Angel's. "He just needs some time to think everything over. I mean, his last 'father' wasn't exactly a Champion, now was he?"

"What if we don't have that time?" He turned to face her, clutching her hand in his. "Something's coming, I can feel it. Something worse than anything we've ever faced."

"It's always is, Angel. And we always win."

"Not this time, Cordy. Not this time."

xxx

"Voila," Erin said. "The best in squatter's accommodation."

It wasn't that bad a room, certainly. A large, grimy window would offer a view of the back streets of LA, if it was cleaned up a bit. There were some empty paint tins, rusted with age, scattered on metal shelves along one wall, but no rats or otherworldly neighbours.

Caitlin wiped dust off the window and peered out. There was only one door into the room and one door into the building itself. The alleyway below was blocked off at one end. Easy to defend, certainly, but also easy to become trapped in.

"There aren't too many nasties around here either," Erin continued, coming to stand next to her. "Door's easy to rig from the inside. You know that squatting doesn't count as living here, right? Vamps won't need an invitation to get in."

"Yeah, I know." Caitlin smiled at her just for a moment. "Thanks. We'll be ok here."

Erin shook her head slightly. "Kid, you should really go home."

"Look, my life is my life," Caitlin said. "I appreciate your help. Now I just need to find my brother."

"Might not have to," Erin said. "Look."

Caitlin did so. Two familiar figures were coming down the alleyway, entering the building.

Erin turned to the door. "I should get back to work."

"Oh, come on. He's not that bad, you know. A bit rough around the edges, but..."

"You know, I resent that," Connor said, walking through the door. "Hey, sis."

"Hello, sluk-boy."

"Ah, sibling affection. Nothing like it," said Gunn. "Hi. Who're you?"

"Hi," Erin replied. "Lorne asked me to help Caitlin find a place. I'm Erin O'Neil."

"Charles Gunn. Connor asked me the same thing," he said with a smile. "Seems great minds think alike after all."

"Unfortunately, so do idiots," she replied. "Well, I guess I'm done here."

"Half a minute," Gunn said. "If the twins are happy here, I'll walk you back to Caelum. Lot of weird guys out there."

Erin smiled, thankful for the offer. Walking around LA by her own at night wasn't on her to-do list.

"Thanks, both of you," Connor said.

"Come find me at Caelum if you need help," Erin said, smiling. "Although somehow I doubt that you will."

As Erin followed Gunn out of the previously unoccupied room, she heard Caitlin start mock-arguing with Connor about the best ways to defend their new home.

"Strange kids," she said.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Gunn replied.

"She's a slayer or some such? I mean, I haven't seen a kid that age who knows so much about the bogeymen in years."

"Nah, her parents were vampires."

"You don't mean they were turned when she was a baby, do you?" she asked. Gunn shook his head. "Whoa. That's not possible, is it?"

"No one knows how it happened," Gunn said. "Just did. They're good kids, whatever happened."

"That is so weird. I mean, I thought _my_ life was odd."

"What do you do anyway?"

"Bartender for Lorne. What?" she asked, seeing a confused look on his face.

He shrugged. "Just... I coulda sworn you were a fighter."

"Nah. I don't have that kind of conviction. How about you?"

"Fighter, born and raised."

"How long?"

"Seven, eight years now," he guessed, shrugging.

"You must be good. Most die in their first year."

Gunn grinned at her tone. "You know lots of vamp hunters?"

"Knew a couple. I've been out of things for a while though."

"I don't know anyone who walked away from this life."

"Wasn't exactly my choice," Erin admitted.

Gunn glanced at her; she was looking carefully at the floor. "You lose someone?"

"One or two," she said softly, not looking up. "It happens."

"It shouldn't, though."

"No," she agreed. "It shouldn't. But it does."

xxx

"Yes, I understand your concern, Mrs Fury," Wesley said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Yes, I realise that- We are trying to find your daughter, I promise. Now, if you could just-" The dialling tone reverberated through his ear before he dropped the phone back into its cradle. "Calm down," he finished sourly.

"Fury?" Fred asked, rummaging through the files. "Wasn't she that old Wicca that came in last week?"

"Yes, her daughter is missing. I said we'd look into it, but..."

She smiled, completely understanding. "Things _have_ been stranger than usual lately, what with Angel finally coming back and the twins running away and... hang on."

"What?" Wesley asked.

"I didn't notice before, but we've had a lot of missing people cases come in these past few weeks. None earlier than twenty days ago, but twelve since then."

"Any connection between them? People vanish all the time in this city all by themselves."

"Uh, nothing obvious," she said, flicking between the folders. "Oh, well, they all vanished after going out for the night."

"Who all vanished?" Angel asked, coming down the stairs with Cordy following behind him, looking concerned.

"Angel!" Fred cried, grinning. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah," he said shortly. "Who's disappeared?"

Ignoring Cordelia's oh-so-subtle gesturing, Fred help up the files. "Plenty of fellows."

"So we still have clients?"

"Oh, yeah, loads," Fred said, then her smile faltered. "Well, twelve. And a man who thinks his pot plant is scheming with the Devil."

"Oh. Is it?"

"Not as far as we know," Cordelia said. "Unless ferns are the new hellhounds."

"So what about these people?"

"They've all gone missing recently," Wesley supplied. "Fred thinks they're connected."

"Might be worth checking out," Angel said, nodding. "I'll go see what I can turn up."

"Are you sure you're ready?" Cordelia asked him quietly as Fred and Wesley did admirable impressions of not being able to hear.

"Yeah," he replied, maybe just a little too sharply. Grabbing his coat, he strode out of the Hyperion Hotel.

"Should I have stopped him?" Cordelia asked.

"How?" said Fred in reply.

xxx

When Angel entered Caelum for the first time, he could've sworn he'd re-entered the long gone Caritas. The trademark mix of humans and demons littered the room and mingled freely on the dance floor. The sight of a boy who was barely old enough to shave dancing with a Kwaini demon was one Angel had definitely not seen before.

"Well, if it isn't tall dark and handsome!" Lorne called from the bar, grinning hugely at seeing the vampire once more.

Angel nodded in greeting, waiting until he was at the bar himself before answering properly. "Place looks good. Busy."

"Seems I was missed," Lorne replied "And I wasn't the only one."

"Thanks," Angel said.

Lorne smiled, nodded. "So, my fearless former leader, what can I do for you?"

"Maybe I just came to see how you are," Angel said mildly, leaning his elbows on the bar.

"Maybe my horns turned blue," Lorne retorted.

"Missing people," Angel admitted. "A lot of them recently and we're not sure if they're connected."

Lorne shrugged elegantly. "I haven't heard anything. One or two of my regulars haven't come in for a while, but it happens."

"Some regulars have vanished?"

"Maybe. I've not seen them for a week or so, but they could just be busy."

"Can you give me their names?" Angel asked.

"Well, speak of the bloodsucker!" called a familiar voice behind him.

Angel turned to see Gunn and a young woman he didn't know approaching.

"You know," Gunn continued easily. "When I said we'd have to avoid each other for a while, I didn't expect you to go to quite such an extreme."

"How's the second front?" Angel asked.

"Going pretty good. This new kid, total wacko, claims to have visions after eating bad Chinese. Took Rondell five days to figure out how he was faking them." He grinned. "So cool."

"Boys," remarked the girl, hitching herself up onto the bar and dropping down on the other side. She took off her bag and jacket, stowing them under the bar.

"Angel, this is Erin, my latest bartender," Lorne said.

Erin offered an absentminded smile in greeting as she set out bottles and glasses.

Angel looked her over and frowned slightly. "Do I know you?" he said.

"Really doubt it," she said with a smile and grabbed a tray, disappearing into the crowds to gather dirty glasses.

Angel was silent, still frowning slightly. Lorne and Gunn traded worried looks.

"Well, about my missing clients," Lorne started hopefully.

xxx

That night, when the doors were finally shut and the last of the customers gone, Erin trudged up to the room Lorne had given her above his business. Kicking the door shut behind her, she fumbled with the lock until it clicked. A small charm lay on the table next to the door and Erin wrapped its chain around the door handle. Mystically warding her room each night was overkill, but Erin preferred overkill to being killed again.

Snapping on the lights, she sat at the small table and started to unwrap the chain from her left wrist. When the length of silver lay free on the table, the divide between her own flesh and the replacement magic was clear to see. From her wrist to her fingertips, Erin's left hand glowed with mystical symbols in the darkness. Carefully, she took hold of the fake hand with her real one and gave it a sharp twist. The glow dimmed as she placed the hand on the table. Rubbing her stump of a wrist, Erin crossed to the window and leant her head against the cool glass.

"You know that creeps me out," she said, turning back to face the mirror by the bed.

Liam's face showed clearly in the mirror. "It's cheaper than phoning. Why are you here?"

"This is my room."

"Don't be silly, Erin."

"But I'm so good at it." Seeing his expression, Erin turned serious. "What happened, Liam?"

"Remember when I said evil was going to rise in LA? The psychics got a clearer reading and... and it matches some that cropped up about five years ago."

"What happened five years ago?"

The Liam in the mirror bit his lip. "Angelus came forth and tried to send the whole world to hell."

"Oh."

"Erin, what you told me about those dreams you had, it matched-"

"The seers have been wrong before," she interrupted.

"But you're scared of Angel, right?"

"The guy's a little intimidating. It doesn't mean he's evil."

"Please just come home."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know where that is."

Liam's face went from exasperated to impassive in an instant.

"I'm sorry," Erin continued. "But I don't know me anymore. And I can't figure it out with you breathing down my neck."

"I understand," Liam said, but she doubted he did. "Stay safe."

With a last grin that was only slightly forced, Liam's face disappeared from the mirror. Erin turned back to look out of the window, shoulders hunched.

She wasn't an idiot. Never had been. So she knew there was something Liam wasn't telling her. Something about Angel, LA and what had happened before the summer. About what had happened to a woman named Neela.

And she was going to find out what it was.

xxx

Partway across town in his new home, Connor gathered up some empty paint tins. "What should I do with these?"

Caitlin glanced over from where she was kneeling by the door. "Keep 'em. We can use them."

"What for?" Connor asked.

"Storing stuff. Weapons, tools, hair ties." Picking up a length of thin wire, she looped it around the door handle. "We're locked in, anyhow, but we should try and get some stuff out of the hotel."

"Tomorrow, daylight?" Connor suggested.

Caitlin nodded and slumped against a wall, stretching out her legs. There were many sucky things about LA and this dimension, but jeans definitely weren't one of them. Skirts, on the other hand...

"How's the eye?"

"Same as it was the last time you asked. And the time before that and the time before that."

"I worry, so kill me," he replied.

"Is that an order?" Caitlin asked, grinning.

"Dream on, brat."

xxx

"Any luck at Caelum?" Wesley asked as Angel wandered through the office door.

"Got a few more names, but nothing about what the cause could be," Angel said, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket.

"I'll check them against our case files," Fred offered with a smile.

"Yay, more missing people in LA," Cordelia said.

"Did Connor or Caitlin come by?" Angel asked, pausing by the office door.

After some exchanging of glances, Fred shook her head slowly. "Sorry," she whispered.

Cordelia stood up. "Angel-"

"I'm going back to bed," he said, leaving the office before she could say another word.

Cordy slumped back in her chair and put her head in her hands.

xxx

Empusa wrinkled her nose as she stepped over one prone vampire. Disgusting creatures. And for creatures that had superhuman senses of smell, they really didn't clean enough. Even humans would balk at living in this building and they could barely smell what was right under their noses.

Tutting to herself, Empusa kicked a vampire in the ribs. She didn't have all day. "Listen, blood rat," she ordered. "I need to talk to your boss."

The vampire tried to bite her ankle, so she kicked it again.

"Stop that," she said, trying not to breathe through her nose. "Look, I have this odd little desire to find out if ripping your heart out and squeezing it would kill you. So where's the boss?"

Growing softly to himself, the vampire jerked his head towards a door at the back of the room.

"Finally," Empusa muttered. Glancing at the vampire, she raised one booted foot and slammed it clear through his chest. "I hate vampires."

She left the vampire leaking blood all over the floor and headed for the door he had so helpfully pointed out to her. On the other side, crowded around a single table, was the strangest assortment of people you could find outside of Caelum. The sheer number of pointy teeth made it appear that everyone in the room was a vampire, but then appearances were always deceptive.

Laid out across the table was a detailed map of the city. Certain areas were shaded different colours, with a big circle around others. Empusa shook her head. These idiots might be treating the situation like a war, but she knew better. If this was a war, they might actually have a chance of winning it.

"Empusa," said one man, looking up at her. He was tall, stocky, with long grey hair and pointed teeth. A smooth forehead said he wasn't a vampire, though. No, this intimidating man was a werewolf and the scars on his bare chest and arms showed just how hard it was to be the leader of a pack of werewolves for any length of time. "You have no place here."

"I want information," Empusa said, checking out the competition as she spoke. Most of these idiots were little more than cannon fodder for the battles to come, but there were one or two werewolves that might give her a moment of trouble. And a single vampire made her pause; Empusa was by definition a stunning beauty and extremely proud of it, and even she admitted this vamp was pretty. Long blonde hair and a pleasing smile that, Empusa noted with interest, _did_ reach her eyes. This girl was probably almost as manipulative as she was.

"I want a home made out of solid gold. What's your point?"

She shrugged elegantly. "You know what I need to know. I know what you want to know."

"A trade?"

"If you want one." Empusa tried a seductive smile. It wouldn't work; Silverfang was just about the only man who it didn't work on, but what she was really interested in was the blonde vampire's reaction. And, bingo, there was the tiny flash of annoyance that meant this vampire was in love, or at least in bed, with a werewolf. How... ridiculous.

"Lilith, down," he said to the blonde vampire. "Your boss won't object?" he continued, obviously thinking this was some sort of scam.

"Do you really think a gang of flea-bitten mongrels and some bloodsuckers led by a lunatic pose any threat to her?"

Silverfang didn't take the comment personally. He knew his chances of success and they weren't good. "We might surprise her."

"Stranger things, huh? Look, can we help each other or not?"

"What do you want to know?"

"I'm looking for a girl, about sixteen, brown hair and, oh yeah, Angelus is her dad. Ring any bells?"

"Lilith?" Silverfang asked.

"Yeah, she and her brother have been killing off quite a few of my allies," Lilith said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Last report pegged them in this area." She circled several blocks on the map with a slim finger.

"Sounds like you've had some run-ins with the little darlings?" Empusa asked, looking at it.

Lilith shrugged. "It's a couple of kids. They've been around for a few months, making a big noise in the underworld. What are they, anyway? My reports are... stupid, at best."

"Beats me. She says jump..."

"How'd she get you on her side?" Silverfang asked. "You're pretty enough, immortal, have sturdy feet. Why are you working for her? You'll be killed along with the rest of us."

"Her power won't reach to the heavens, sweetie. I can join my mother and watch as you all burn. But before that..." She reached forward and tapped a building on the map. "I believe some wanna-be vampire hunters are making your job unnecessarily difficult. And this is their leader." Out of the ridiculously tight top, she pulled a small photograph and dropped it onto the table. "Bye bye, little puppy."

Silverfang didn't hear her leave. He picked up the photo; it showed a young man, shaved bald, with dark skin. The growl rose up in his throat automatically as he grinned. Lilith crossed to stand behind him and slipped her arms around his waist, standing on tip-toe to see over his shoulder.

"When?" she asked.

"Soon."

xxx

Just want to say thanks for the patience you guys have been showing. Only another three weeks and more regular updates should once again be the norm!


	25. Chapter 25

Connor woke up with a crick in his neck, one arm twined around his sister's waist. Sitting up, he stretched until his bones cracked and feeling came back into his legs. The sun streaming through the window lit the room entirely, showing more grime and dust. Well, it was better than a blood-soaked cave at any rate, and he'd spent a few nights in those before.

"Cait," he said, poking her. "Cait, wake up."

"I am awake," she muttered, rolling away from him. "What?"

"Unlock the door for me, will you? I'm going to go get our stuff from the hotel."

Rubbing her bad eye, Caitlin got to her feet and started to disable the rough traps she'd made for that night. "No, you're not."

"What?"

"I'll go. If Angel's there, maybe you shouldn't be."

Connor sighed. Arguing with her was a complete waste of time. "Want a weapon?"

"I've got knives in my boots," Caitlin said, still fiddling.

That didn't surprise Connor. Neither twin had relaxed enough in the summer even to consider going unarmed. He always wore long sleeves that a stake could be slipped up and Caitlin tended to have no less than three knives with her at any one time: one in each boot and one at the small of her back.

"Keep them close, just in case. And don't wander off," he told her sternly.

Rolling her eyes, Caitlin pulled the door open. "Yes, _mother_."

"Just be careful."

xxx

Angel prowled through the Hyperion. He had nothing to do until Fred and the others had finished checking the names given to them by Lorne and even if he did have something to do, the sun's presence in the sky put any errand running out of the question. Faintly, he could hear Cordelia and Wesley arguing downstairs and found himself remembering when he'd come down one morning to find them screaming at each other with nothing apparently in mind except pissing each other off. That had been when Darla was playing with his mind, plaguing his thoughts and dreams. Remembering how he'd snapped at them, Angel realised that nothing had been the same since they'd moved into this hotel two years ago. Darla's return, his one-man campaign against Wolfram and Hart, his epiphany, Pylea, Holtz, all that fighting and what was the result? Two children who he loved but didn't know and who were so scared of him that they ran away when faced with his imminent return.

His feet, as they tended to do, led him towards the rooms that Connor and Caitlin had claimed for their own over the summer. Connor's room stank of old fear, the smell blending with the boy's scent until Angel could barely distinguish between the two. So Connor had been terrified all summer, but from what the others had said, he'd been happy.

If only he could remember what had happened in that cave! The last thing he could remember clearly, convinced it was true, was turning around to find that the others had all disappeared. Most of what he remembered after that made no sense, just disjointed images and feelings. But something must have happened in there, something to scare Connor. What if Angel himself attacked the boy?

As he was walking silently along the corridor, Angel froze; someone was in Caitlin's room. He'd heard the floorboard creak. Angel edged along until he was just out of sight of the room and paused.

Leaping into the room, Angel grabbed the intruder and slammed him up against the wall. And then he actually looked at him. Him who was actually her.

"Caitlin," he said, letting go. "Um, hi."

"Hey," she replied. "You look good, all things considered."

"Could say the same about you." Gently, he touched the scarring around her eyes. "It seems those caves were good for something."

"Yeah, they gave me back my sight and then didn't let me see my father for a couple of months. Real fair."

"If you want to see me, why are you leaving?" he asked, gesturing at the bags by her feet.

"Look, I don't really know you, however much I want to. And I've already proved that my instincts kinda suck when people are involved, so I'm going with Connor on this one."

"And Connor thinks you're not safe with me?"

Caitlin shrugged. "I suppose. Before... before Holtz took my sight, he trusted you. In the hospital, he trusted you enough to back off and let us talk to each other. I don't know what happened between then and you disappearing, or even _if_ anything happened, but he's changed his mind. And Connor, he... he attacks first where I concerned and I kinda don't want you to die until I can figure out whether I care or not, you know?"

"So you'll give me a chance?"

"Yeah," she said. "But only one."

Picking up the bags, she slipped past him, leaving Angel standing there, alone.

xxx

Erin ran one hand through her cropped hair, enjoying the spiky feeling. She'd always had her hair long before, but it had been so weird seeing herself in the mirror with black hair that she'd lopped it all off the moment she spotted red roots. The look on Liam's face had been priceless. Add to that all the new piercings and Erin's look had definitely changed.

Her attitude, though, was the same as always.

"Look, you arrogant little pus-boil," she snapped. "Either you can stop messing me about or I will come over and _smack_ you about."

The demon, small and edgy with pathetic horns, managed a weak smile. "Ah, here's the order," he said, scrabbling for a piece of paper. "Three jars of pickled gnats."

She snatched the bag he offered. "Thanks," she said, being sure to favour him with a smile. It wasn't a nice smile.

Erin turned and started to elbow her way through the Underworld Market, or as everyone called it, the Scum Pit. She was less than halfway to the exit when she reached out and grabbed a young boy who was sidling past.

"Hey, tell me who watches this place," Erin said.

"Free territory. No fighting allowed," he said and hurried on.

Erin nodded to herself. Places like this were normally useful for judging the local players. It was one of the first places Uncle Paul would check out in a new town. Of course, the lack of fights would make that harder, but she was intelligent, or could pass for intelligent in bad lighting.

"Hey, Erin!"

She glanced over her shoulder to see Gunn waving at her. Smiling, she walked over to join him and the boys he was standing with.

"Hey," she replied. "You suddenly got a craving for stewed virgins' saliva?"

"Negotiations. We're hoping to start hunting in the Kwaini's territory," he said, grinning. "This is Rondell and Kiddo. Guys, Erin."

Erin smiled at the two men. "Nice to meet you."

"G, we'll be heading back," Rondell said. "See you around, Erin."

As they wandered off, Gunn caught the look Erin was throwing at him. "What?"

"Kiddo's aptly named, huh? Isn't he a little young to be fighting?"

"I don't let him hunt and he's safer with us than out there on his own," Gunn said, shrugging. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"What?"

"You know, breakfast? Most important meal of the day?"

"I know what breakfast is," she said, smiling in spite of herself.

"Well, have you had any?"

"Not yet."

"Come on, then. I know this great place."

xxx

Slowly, Angel walked back down the stairs to the lobby of the Hyperion. The argument between Wesley and Cordelia had petered out and from the smirk Cordelia was wearing, Angel guessed she had won again.

"Anything new come up?" he asked, resting his elbows on the old reception desk.

"Two more missing people reported to us, and even the LAPD has noticed the trend," Wesley said. "Several of Lorne's clients are among the missing."

"I went online and checked their database," Fred explained. "The number of vampire-related deaths has rocketed in the past fortnight, not that they know that. Muggings gone wrong is their current explanation."

"Gunn said he'd been killing more vampires than normal recently," Angel added, nodding his head.

"So the vampires are being drawn here?" Cordelia asked, brow furrowed.

"Or a master vampire has risen. Spike or Drusilla, maybe," Wesley offered.

"No," Angel said, shaking his head. "I'd be able to sense them."

"You didn't realise Penn was in LA immediately," the Englishman countered.

"Still, neither Spike nor Drusilla is exactly low-profile," Cordy said. "They would've tried to kill Angel already."

"Well, there are other strong vampires. Fred, could you find those reports for me again?" Wesley asked. "I'd like to see if there is any pattern."

With a smile at Wesley, Fred pulled her laptop back towards her and started work. Wesley himself fetched the tomes that specialised in the Great Vampires, those demons that had gained enough of a reputation to be noted and specifically hunted.

Angel left them to it, absentmindedly going to the weapons' cabinet and opening it. And stared.

"I re-organised it when you were gone," Cordelia said, following him. "What's wrong, Angel?"

"Caitlin was here."

"Well, yes, she lived here for a while," she said, uncertain as to what exactly he was talking about.

"No, I mean, she was just here," Angel said, starting to de-organise the weapons. Why did Cordy always do this when he went away?

"Oh. Did you... talk to her?" Cordelia asked tentatively.

"Yeah."

"What did she say?"

"That Connor didn't trust me anymore. She didn't know why, though. And that Connor attacks first when she's in danger, that he doesn't think about it."

A clatter behind Angel made him spin around. Fred had dropped a mug, spilling coffee all over the floor.

"Sorry," she called, getting down to clear it up.

"Butterfingers," Cordy said and smiled at Angel as she went to help Fred. The moment she had her back to Angel, the smile vanished. "What?" she mouthed at Fred, who shook her head helplessly.

"Well, it's nice to see you're as subtle as ever," said Angel, leaning over the desk, one eyebrow raised. "Fred, what is it?"

She blushed, looking at the split coffee. "Just before you came back, I found a demon who knew a bit about those weird caves. He said..." Fred took a deep, shaky breath. "He said that only a blood-relative could trap someone in there," she gabbled.

"Oh, god," Cordy whispered.

xxx

"So," Gunn said, leaning back in his chair, an empty plate in front of him. "What is your deal?"

"I'm a bartender," Erin replied, still finishing what she had to admit was a pretty good breakfast for only five bucks.

"Yeah, right."

"Hm, I detect scepticism. I'm hurt, really I am."

"Come on, Erin. You move like a fighter, work for a green-skinned demon from another dimension, oh, and I met you in the Scum Pits... So, what is your deal?"

Erin considered him, head slightly to one side. "So I know what's what. Not that big a deal."

"Why don't you fight?"

"Not everyone's a fighter. Some are just spectators."

"Not you, though, right?" Gunn asked, raising one eyebrow. "Come on, I saw you checking out the competition in the market."

"Look, I have to go," she replied, standing up. "Uh, thanks for the meal."

Gunn slumped back in his chair as Erin almost ran out of the diner. "Nice girl," he murmured.

xxx

Connor was trying to walk on her hands when Caitlin returned. Her knock on the door made his concentration falter and Caitlin was more than a little worried to hear a loud thud and a groan of pain before Connor yanked the door open.

"You ok?" she asked, throwing the bag at him.

"Marvellous," he replied, rubbing a sore shoulder. "Everything go smoothly?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Couldn't get any food; Cordy and everyone was there."

"Everyone as in Angel?"

"Yeah."

"Did he hurt you?"

"No, of course not." Caitlin sighed angrily. "Look you don't want to tell me why you dislike him all of a sudden, fine. Don't ask, don't tell, just like always. But stop assuming the worst, ok? He hasn't done anything to us."

"Not yet."

"I said, stop it!" she yelled. "Just... stop, ok? Things are difficult enough for me at the moment without you being all doom-and-gloom."

Still furious, she pulled a bag towards her and started to unpack.

xxx

Lorne had told Erin that he nearly always slept late after a busy night, so she was half-heartedly praying he'd still be asleep when she got back. She badly wanted time to think.

So, of course, Lorne was up, about and far too cheerful when she came through the back door.

"There you are, my little ex-devil," he said. "We're out of bull's blood _and_ otter's."

"Well, I can get the bull's blood from the butchers, but where do you get otter's blood?" Erin asked as she dropped the shopping bag, hitching herself up onto a table and swinging her legs. "Aren't they a protected species? And here are the pickled gnats. You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get them."

"A demon in the warehouse district farms otters. I've already placed the order and it's all paid for, but he doesn't deliver," Lorne said, looking at her hopefully.

"Welcome to my glamorous LA lifestyle," she said jokingly and took the address he offered her.

"So where were you?" Lorne asked curiously as she prepared to leave. "I didn't think even Tipsy could argue about orders for that long.

"Gunn asked me to breakfast," she answered without looking at the demon.

Lorne focused on her slightly.

"Hey, don't you go reading me!" Erin said.

"You like him."

"No, I don't."

"Have you ever dated?"

"Yes, Lorne. Whilst being dragged all across Europe by my probably insane uncle, I found time for a rich and varied social life. Oh, and let's not forget the evil cult stalking us who were trying to kill me very dead indeed."

"Didn't think so."

"Look, it was only breakfast. It doesn't mean anything."

"Ah, so you do want it to mean something."

Erin opened her mouth, shut it again, and pulled her jacket off the back of a chair. "I'll be back soon."

Lorne let her go, grinning.

xxx

"Angel?" Cordelia called, peering into the basement. She knew he was down there, either that or Fred had taken up kick-boxing against the punch bag. Sighing, she reached along the wall for the light switch. He'd been brooding for hours already.

Just as she had suspected, Angel was slamming into the poor abused punch bag. He didn't look up as she came down the stairs and sat on the bottom step.

"Wow, anyone else would think you were pissed at something," she said casually. "Which would be understandable if, oh, your son just happened to the be the reason you spent the summer in a magic crazy-making cave-"

Angel stopped, rubbed his hands. "I'm not angry with him," he said quietly.

"Oh. So what's with the badly repressed rage?"

"There has to be a reason Connor did what he did."

"And you think you know what that reason is."

"Remember when Wes told me where Holtz was? And I told you I didn't kill him?"

"Uh, Angel...?" she asked nervously. Cordelia did not like where this conversation was going.

"He's still alive. But I- I tried to feed off him. I think Connor was there."

"Did Connor say anything?"

"He was scared of me after that night, more scared than I'd ever seen him. I was planning to talk to him but Caitlin disappeared and then..."

"You disappeared," finished Cordelia.

"I understand why he did what he did. I just wish I could tell him that without fists becoming involved."

"Well, give him time. Give yourself time. It'll be ok. Maybe go and, I don't know, save his life."

"What?" Angel asked, looking up.

Cordy was clinging to the banister for support, eyes opaque as whatever the vision showed overruled her natural sight.

"Cordy, what is it?" he asked, grabbing her shoulders.

Breathing frantically, Cordelia looked at him, face pale. "Someone's going after the twins, tonight, just after nightfall. She's strong, brutal. She'll kill them."

"No, she won't," Angel replied, face deceivingly calm as he straightened. Grabbing his coat, he walked toward the sewer entrance.

"We don't know where they are," Cordelia protested to his back.

He paused. "No, we don't. But I can find out."

xxx

Erin sat on a beer crate, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she used her hands to sort out several boxes of assorted drinks. "What did you say it was called? Uh-huh. Never heard of it. What's it do? Sounds perfect; let me guess, you have no idea where it is." Giggling at Liam's response, Erin shifted the phone to her other ear. "Well, I'll ask around for you. No, he hasn't bothered me yet. I told you, I'm working for Lorne, not him. And speak of the devil," she said as Lorne poked his head around the door. "Gotta go. I will. Speak to you soon." Dropping the phone onto her lap, she smiled at her employer. "Liam says to tell you that he doesn't appreciate having his conspiracies torn apart by green skinned demons. And also 'hi'."

"It's so nice to be appreciated," Lorne said with a wry grin. "Erin, I have a big favour to ask you."

"What?" she asked cautiously.

"Angel's here and he's frantic. Cordy had a vision; the twins are in danger. Will you led Angel to them?" Lorne asked, voice gentle. "You can say no."

"In that case, no," Erin said, shaking her head. "He scares me. Gunn knows, if it's desperate."

"I'll tell him."

Erin watched Lorne leave and tried to stop trembling. What she had said was true; Angel terrified her, although she had no real idea why. She didn't even know him, just knew of him. But it would be ok, she didn't have to see him if she didn't want to. She could hear Lorne and Angel arguing faintly. Carefully, she concentrated on her work.

"Erin?"

She looked up to see the vampire standing just inside the store-room's door. Erin resisted the urge to start shaking again. "I told you, Gunn can tell you what you need to know."

"I've been looking for him for hours," Angel replied. "My children are going to be attacked after sunset."

Erin glanced at the nearest window. The light was already dimming.

"I have to help them," Angel continued. "Please."

She hated this life, she hated lying and, right now, she hated herself. "Fine, they're at-"

"Can you show me?" he interrupted.

"Ok, but let's hurry."

"No arguments here," Angel said as they left the room.


	26. Chapter 26

Connor had assumed his habitual position of sitting against the wall as he waited for nightfall. Sharpening stakes, he kept on eye on his work and the other on his sister, who was doing knife tricks.

"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked as she started to juggle three knives. It wasn't something she'd learnt in Quor'toth, he knew.

"Gunn taught me. Well, not with these beauties," she amended, grinning.

"I should hope not. Not even Gunn is that crazy."

"Watch it. What am I, you are, Con." To finish, Caitlin threw the two knives in her hands at the walls and snatched the last one out of the air, spinning it around her hand easily.

They both stopped what they were doing at the same moment, heads tilted to one side.

"Are we expecting anyone?" Connor asked softly.

"No. I rigged up some little surprises this afternoon," Caitlin replied, moving silently across the floor to retrieve her knives from the wall. "Just as a precaution."

Connor slipped the stake up into its customary location of his sleeve and pulled a sword out from behind the metal book shelves. He remembered some of the surprises Caitlin had created in Quor'toth with the most basic of tools. Some of the tools she'd found in the hotel had made her squeal like Cordy did over a new pair of shoes. Whatever she'd made, the results should be... interesting, to say the least.

From the floor below there was a snap, a crash and a faint rolling sound.

Caitlin frowned. "It didn't hit them. They're good," she said, looking at Connor.

"Not good enough," Connor replied.

"Plan?" she asked.

"We win."

"That works."

xxx

Empusa was pleasantly surprised. Three weeks of easy kills and finally it looked like she'd found someone who was inventive enough to give her a decent fight. Kicking the remnant of the trap aside, she cautiously headed for the stairs. The targets were on the floor above, or that was what she'd been told.

And it was right. She could hear them moving around, although a normal human would've missed the faint sounds. Two of them, one boy and one girl, and they had heard her, somehow. Dodging another trap for unwary visitors, Empusa took the stairs two at a time. These kids were way too interesting to be subtle about.

Bursting into the room, she smiled to find it apparently empty. Empusa spun and grabbed the blade of the sword that had be travelling towards her neck.

"Hey, cutie," she said, grinning.

Connor pulled the sword back, or tried to.

"Such a nice, strong little man," Empusa cooed. "How sweet." She slammed the palm of her hand into Connor's chest, sending him flying back into the wall.

Raising her arms, she deflected the three knives that Caitlin threw at her. As the girl launched a spinning kick at her, Empusa dodged to the side and smacked Caitlin across the head as she passed. She landed on her brother.

"So, kids, what are you?" Empusa asked, walking towards them. "She didn't give me too many details and I have to say I'm impressed."

"She?" Caitlin asked.

"No one you need to worry about, sweetie." Empusa pursed her lips, looking over the two teenagers. "I smell Quor'toth on you."

"Long story."

"Guess we don't really have time for it, then. Sorry, kiddos, love you both, really I do, but I sort of have to kill you."

"You sort of have to try," Connor corrected. "And, just for the record, we don't lose."

"Ooh, a challenge."

"More like a fact," Caitlin said.

The twins launched themselves forward, striking, dodging, spinning away. When Caitlin grabbed both of Empusa's hands, Connor was ready with the sword, slicing the woman twice across the back. Empusa roared, cracking an elbow back into his face and slammed a foot into Caitlin's chest.

Caitlin flew across the room and smacked into the wall, crumbling into a heap.

"Cait!" Connor yelled. "Get up!"

"I'll make it quick for you," Empusa promised.

Connor swung the sword again, connected, ripped it out and kneed her in the chest. "I won't let you."

"You think you can stop me? Maybe when you're all grown up, but you're only half a man right now."

"It's probably more than enough."

Connor and Empusa looked round to see Angel standing in the doorway.

"Do you mind? I'm in the middle of something here," Empusa said, scowling at the vampire.

Connor jumped-kicked her in the back, sending her flying across the room, through the window.

Angel ran forward and peered down. A four storey fall didn't seemed to have harmed the woman at all; she was already getting up and dusting herself off. Looking up, she smiled and waved.

"See you soon, handsome," she yelled and strutted out of the alley.

Frowning, Angel turned away from the window. Connor was crouching next to Caitlin, helping her sit up. She peered around Connor's shoulder and made an 'oh' sound.

"Hi, Caitlin," Angel said awkwardly. "Connor."

"What are you doing here?"

"Cordy had a vision. I came to help," Angel explained.

"You didn't need to do that," Connor said. He could look after Caitlin better than anyone, no matter what they came up against.

"I was worried."

"You don't need to do that either."

"Connor, someone just tried to kill you," Angel said, shocked at his son's flippant attitude.

"It happens. I can deal with it," he argued.

"Like you dealt with me?" Angel snapped. He regretted the words as soon as he said them, but by then it was too late. They were said.

Connor shut his eyes for a moment, but when he raised them to meet Angel's once more, his gaze was perfectly steady. He didn't answer immediately; he'd long ago learnt from Holtz when an answer to a question was a dangerous thing. So he waited until his breath stopped catching in his throat and he was sure his voice wouldn't tremble before speaking.

"I did what I thought was right," he said softly. "I saw what you did to Holtz."

"What I tried to do," Angel corrected him.

Caitlin stared from one to other. What the hell were they talking about?

"Well, it's the thought that counts, right?"

"You wanted him dead too."

"But I didn't try to kill him; I respected Caitlin's wishes," Connor retorted angrily, getting right in Angel's face.

"Oh, Caitlin didn't want the man who blinded her dead?" Angel said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No, I damn well did not," Caitlin interrupted. "Now one or both of you is going to tell me exactly what is going on here or I will throw you both out through my broken window!"

There was a beat of pure silence as the father and son stared at her, both completely thrown. Connor was suddenly regretting all the times he'd dodged her questions. Angel, on the other hand, was confused. Surely Caitlin was intelligent enough to get what they were talking about.

"Right." She took a deep breath. Part of Caitlin knew that she didn't want to know. The more sensible part knew she had to. "What exactly does 'like you dealt with me' mean?"

"Connor attacked me in the caves when I was trying to find you," Angel said, crossing his arms. "Trapped me."

"I thought he was going to hurt you, I had-"

Caitlin held up her hand, silencing Connor. "And what did you try to do to Holtz?" she asked Angel.

Connor waited just long enough to see that Angel didn't know what to say before speaking. "He went after Holtz when you were hurt. Way I saw it, he would've drained him if Justine hadn't-"

"I was in control!" Angel argued. Neither of them noticed as Caitlin moved away from them.

Caitlin slowly collected her knives, sliding each one carefully into their sheaths. She had to be careful; her hands were shaking. Angel and Connor were still yelling at each other, but they hadn't come to blows yet. Right. She had to do something. Quietly, she sidled around her screaming family and found some of the weapons Connor had got out of the hotel. Caitlin pulled out a machete and smiled humourlessly. That would do.

Connor, glancing over Angel's shoulder, saw the look in her eyes and the machete in her hands. It was not a good combination.

"Cait?"

"Just back off, Connor," she said.

"Please," he said, not even sure what he was asking for.

She shook her head and left, sliding the machete into her belt.

"Damn it," Connor muttered, turning to glare at Angel. "Why do you insist on complicating my life?"

"You never told her what happened?" Angel asked, ignoring his question. "Never told her what I did?"

The boy glanced at him. "No."

"Why not? Sounds like the perfect way to get her to hate me."

He was really quite surprised when Connor smacked him in the face.

"What the hell do you think I am?" he yelled, beyond furious. "I am _not _the monster here! Do you want to hurt her? Is that why you told her?"

Angel grabbed Connor's hands as the boy tried to hit him again. "She deserves to know the truth!"

"You have no right to make that decision." Connor yanked his hands free, but kept them at his side.

"I am her father."

"Then start acting like it!"

When the blow came, Angel really should have seen it coming. Connor had done almost the exact same thing to Empusa just a few minutes before. Pivoting on one leg, Connor slammed the other sole-first into Angel's chest, sending him falling through the open door and tumbling down the stairs.

"I'm going to find a way to keep you out of here," Connor said as came slowly down the stairs, looking down at Angel lying on the floor. "You're staying out of our life." Straightening his shoulders, Connor stepped over the semi-conscious vampire.

It wasn't until he reached for the main door that Angel spoke.

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"Why did you?" Connor replied, slipping out of the building and letting the door clunk shut behind him.

xxx

Erin had done her part, showing Angel the building where his kids were hiding from him. He had dashed in without so much as a simple 'thank you'. Erin didn't follow. She could easily hear the sounds of the fight going on above her, but tried not to. Tried not to imagine what would happen if it was the Clan attempting to retrieve Caitlin. She should be up there, helping, fighting, not loitering here like a scared kid.

But she couldn't. Erin was no hero. No Champion. And she wasn't brave enough to face the Clan, or whoever they were fighting up there.

So she stuck her hands in her pockets and made herself walk away. Lorne was a ridiculously easy-going employer, but Erin still had to actually do her job. So she was a good little bartender and left the battle to those fit to fight it. But it was hard.

Later, Erin would kick herself for not being ready for it. Walking through LA during the full moon without so much as a cross was not so much sloppy as suicidal. She was in no way ready to fight anything.

But when the vampire grabbed her and dragged into an alleyway, her muscles disagreed. Erin wrenched one arm free and elbowed the undead in the face. Spinning, she grabbed her attacker, who was female, oddly enough, and slammed her knee up to connect with her stomach.

Erin shoved the vampire away, turned, and sprinted back up the alley. Her plan of getting far, far away was ruined when the vampire recovered enough to take hold of her again. Erin found herself slammed against a wall with the vampire leaning in for the kill...

When it crumbled away in front of her, Erin was more than relieved to see Gunn there with a stake in his hand.

"You ok?" he asked.

She nodded. "Peachy. Thanks."

"What are you playing at? Wandering around LA without a stake?"

"Several million people do that."

"They don't see what's in front of them," Gunn countered. "You do. What's your game?"

"God, you sound like my uncle," Erin said.

"Well, maybe he was right."

"Being careful didn't keep him alive."

"Doesn't make it right for you to join him."

"You give this speech to every stupid rookie out there? 'Cause, between you and me, it sounds a little scripted."

"Look, I lost someone too-"

"Well, I lost my uncle, the only member of my family who was still with me and then the very same night, a mystical attack sent me into a frigging coma," Erin snapped. "For ten years! And now I have to try and piece my life back together and I don't even know where to start! I have to mourn people who've been dead for a decade and it still hurts!"

Horrified, Erin clapped a hand over her mouth as Gunn stared.

"I- I'm sorry," she said, stumbling over the words. "I didn't mean-"

"So you're, what, fifteen?" he interrupted, looking curious.

"Fifteen and a half," she corrected automatically. "Mentally, anyway."

"Weird."

"One word for it."

"So that's why you don't fight?"

"Uncle Paul never let me. He taught me how, but I wasn't meant to actually use it outside training," Erin explained. "Uh, are we ok?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Gunn said, waving one hand dismissively. "So you really are a rookie. Have you ever even staked a vamp?"

"Once. Kinda by accident."

"Right, let's go."

Erin caught the stake he threw her and stared at it, then at him. "What?"

"I need a new fighter. You have the skill. Let's go train."

At the end of the alley, Gunn glanced back to where Erin was still standing, dumbfounded.

"You coming or not?"

xxx

It wasn't hard to find a vampire nest in Los Angeles. Caitlin knew what to look for, the covered windows, the location, the dead bodies littering the front room...

If Connor knew she was fighting solo, he'd freak.

As she pummelled the unfortunate undead, she realised she didn't care. Caitlin hadn't let herself go in a long time. She hadn't had to.

Years ago, Caitlin had discovered something that would have broken Connor's heart. That if you were hurting inside, you could make it just a little better by spreading the pain around. Connor was the better fighter but he had never fought like this. Holtz had moulded him to be a perfect weapon for destroying Angel. Connor didn't kill; he _dispatched_ each enemy as quickly as possible and moved onto the next. But Caitlin could spend hours trying to translate emotional pain into physical pain with her fists.

Yeah, so she was a little twisted. She did grow up in a hell dimension with a real monster acting as a father, after all.

Pulling the machete from her belt, Caitlin sliced the vampire across the chest. As he howled in pain, she drove the sharp tip through his shoulder and rammed him back into the wall, pinning it in place. The vampire scrabbled desperately at the blade. Caitlin watched him, head tilted on one side. She'd had her fun, true, so it was really time to kill the bloodsucker already. But something was bugging her...

"What the hell's wrong with you?" the vamp yelled, blooding running down his arm.

Caitlin considered for a moment. "Well, I do have a lot of problems." She pulled a box of matches out of her pocket. These little fire-starters were one of her favourite things in LA.

"Uh, look kid, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with you per se-"

Caitlin held up a match. "Shut up."

The vamp did so, nodding frantically.

"You're new in town, right?" she said. The vampire nodded again. "So why'd you come to LA? For the food?"

"Got a job."

"Doing what?"

The vampire hesitated so Caitlin sighed theatrically and lit the match.

"Something big's coming, I don't know what, but everyone can feel it," the vampire gabbled. "I've been clearing the way."

"The way for what?" Caitlin demanded.

"For Silverfang and his boys to stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Whatever's coming. It's big and it'll wipe us out."

"Good." Caitlin flicked the match at the vampire, the tiny flame landing in his hair. She waited as the flames grew and the vampire, screaming his head off, crumbled neatly to dust.

The machete was still stuck in the wall. Caitlin walked over and yanked it out, thinking. Gunn and Connor had been killing way more vamps than normal recently; if what the vampire said was true, the vampires were trying to mass some sort of final front against this thing that was apparently coming. So who the hell was Silverfang?

Caitlin turned to face the person who had tried to sneak unnoticed into the room. "Hi, Fred."

"Are you ok?"

She forced a smile for her friend. "Couple of ribs not quite right, but other than that..."

Fred wasn't fooled. "You found out, didn't you? What they did?"

"Yeah," Caitlin said quietly, shrugging slightly, trying to make it look like it wasn't tearing her up inside.

"And it hurts," Fred continued.

"They didn't even tell me. Angel and Connor were just yelling at each other and it... it just slipped out. They were never going to tell me. I just happened to be there and hear it. And it's not even that they didn't tell me. I get that. God knows I haven't told them everything."

Fred frowned, confused. "So what is it?"

"That they did those things in the first place. Angel tries to kill Holtz and Connor stuffs him in a mystical rabbit hole because they want to help me. They could at least ask first."

"They're Champions, want to save the damsel in distress and whatever," Fred said, sitting down on a clean-ish bit of floor.

"They didn't trust me enough to tell me."

"Trust's a tricky thing, Caitlin. You can trust the wrong person, or the right person too much or not at all or not trust anyone at all. You're luckier than most people."

"How so?"

"You have someone you can trust without question," Fred said, being careful to keep her voice soft and comforting. "Someone who only wants to help you. Who has looked out for you ever since you met them."

Caitlin looked at Fred and grinned. "You're right. Thanks, Fred."

Fred smiled, mind scrambling to catch up. She'd missed something.

"Connor's my twin. If I can't trust him, who can I trust?" Caitlin finished. As she walked out of the dank building, she threw a smile over her shoulder and Fred. "See you later."

When the girl was gone, Fred narrowed her eyes. "Far too defiant."

xxx

Erin circled the vampire, hanging onto a stake in one hand for dear life.

Gunn was sitting casually on top of a dumpster, just watching. He was ready to leap into the fray if necessary, but he didn't think it would come to that. Erin's uncle had taught her well.

The vampire lunged, so Erin dodged and let him introduce himself forcefully to the nearest wall. She darted forward, but was sent backwards by a foot in the stomach. Erin thudded into the opposite wall and jumped aside as the undead slammed a fist where her head had just been.

"The key is to make the other guy work," her uncle had told her. "Let him leap around like a prat, you bide your time."

So Erin ducked and dodged, trying to keep the vamp at bay until she could get a clean hit with the stake.

Yawning slightly, Gunn shifted his legs and winced as he knocked a box over, resulting in a loud crash. The edgy, pissed off vampire twisted his head to see what had made the noise and Erin's arm jerked forward, hitting the vamp squarely in the heart with her stake.

"Well done," Gunn said, grinning as she squeaked in delight. "But you need to be a bit more impulsive, I'd say. Thinking too much will get you killed."

"So will not thinking enough," Erin said, tossing the stake to him. He caught it easily and threw it right back.

"It's yours now, kid," he said. "One of the ancient rules of combat."

Erin tucked the stake into her pocket, smiling. "So what are we going to do now?"

xxx

Silverfang watched the building keenly, being careful to keep out of the moonlight. Over a day of non-stop observation had told him almost everything he needed to know. There were twenty-seven kids in the gang, usually a few on guard at any one time and only one was missing at the moment. All entrances but one were blocked up from the inside. If the kids had any sense at all, those doorways would be easily opened from the inside. But he hoped they wouldn't be.

Sighing, he considered the building one last time. He should have brought Lilith with him; the girl was, even for a vampire, incredible in a fight. And she loved a good slaughter as much as the next girl.

But this was his night.

He straightened to his full, intimidating height and shrugged out of his jacket and shirt, dropping them on the ground. The rest of his clothes followed until he stood naked but for a set of wooden beads wrapped around one hand. Silverfang glanced up, checking the position of the moon and quickly tore the beads off and let them fall as he ran forward into the moonlight.

As the wolf effortlessly loped towards the door, its fangs shone silver in the moonlight.

xxx

With my exams now finally over, I'll be back to weekly updates. Thanks once again for your patience and reviews!

- DarthGabithaTheHutt


	27. Chapter 27

Connor found her, eventually. Finding Caitlin was always easy for him.

"Is there anything in this world that isn't built on lies?" Caitlin asked, very deliberately not looking at him.

"I didn't want you to lose another father," he answered.

"I'd rather lose a thousand fathers than you," she said. "God, Connor, you cut me out of your life. You lied to me."

"I know." He sat down to her. "I didn't want you to hurt like I was."

"This whole summer... All the time I knew something was wrong. You were so distant. And I missed you so much."

Connor looked round at his sister.

"Remember when Holtz kicked me out when I about six or something? And again when I was in that weird cave," Caitlin continued. "I knew that you'd come, that you'd look after me. I knew it."

"Cait-"

"I still know it." She stood up and managed a smile. "So don't you dare prove me wrong. Is there anything else I should know?"

Connor shrugged. "I lost the stake launcher last month."

"Idiot. Now I need to go talk to Angel. Without you, because I'm not planning to talk with my fists. Something's coming and I don't think he knows yet."

"What?"

"Well, I met this vampire," Caitlin started as they walked away.

xxx

Erin was almost on a natural high as they approached Gunn's new hideout. The adrenaline from the fight had yet to wear off and Gunn couldn't help smiling at her happiness.

"Yep, definitely a kid," he said, pushing the main door open. And stopped.

Erin nearly walked into him. "What's wrong?"

"No one's on lookout," Gunn said, keeping his voice low.

"Maybe they're further in," Erin offered, just as quietly.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "James is on tonight. He's not like that."

Cautiously, Gunn stepped forward, pulling a knife out of his pocket. Erin followed with her stake in her hand. Partway into the room were the stairs down to the gang's main living area, but they were closed off, their cover down in place. Gunn frowned. That cover had never been shut before. He reached down and grabbed the handle, trying unsuccessfully to open the hatch. Something was blocking it.

As Gunn tugged on the cover, Erin slowly stepped forward until she could reach the object she had spotted lying a short distance from cover. It was just a cigarette box and she picked it up, checking inside. It was nearly full. Erin dropped it quickly and turned her shaking hand palm up. There was blood on it.

_The village was almost 'home' by then. There were three dozen families at most and she had known them all by sight at least. They'd been there enough for the locals to greet them like friends and even Uncle Paul had admitted it wasn't that bad. She'd played with some of the children and one of the boys had even started to pull her hair, an act which according to his sister promised long time devotion. _

_Erin had only been thirteen. Not old enough to understand. Not young enough to be able to forget. And afterwards, she mostly remembered the silence. And the blood. _

_Uncle Paul had been too shocked to keep her from seeing the sight of thirty-six slaughtered families. Later, she almost forgot that he had known them too. Cared about them. Been just as horrified as her. She just hated him for seeming so calm. So in control. And for not letting her help. For not explaining._

_When he had come back covered in blood – and it wasn't the Technicolor blood of a demon, but the red of _humans_ – and told her it would all be ok, it was already too late. She'd grown up. She couldn't believe the little lies anymore. She couldn't believe anything. _

With a grunt of effort, Gunn yanked the hatch open, letting it swing on hinges until it smacked into the floor.

Erin's head shot up. "Gunn, don't-"

He didn't hear or didn't care, but for whatever reason Gunn started to walk down the steps. Erin heard him stop on only the sixth step, heard the thud as he collapsed to sit down.

She had to know.

So she made herself walk over, go down those steps, keep going past Gunn until she could see...

What she never wanted to see again.

Gunn was pale, shaking, his eyes glassy as the shock took full control.

Erin envied him. But she had had her turn of letting others deal with such horrors. Leaving Gunn, she walked further into what must have once been a decent enough place to stay. Now it stank of blood and death. Part of her knew that whatever had done this would've been thorough. No survivors. But there was a chance. There was always a chance. So although she knew she would regret it every second she had to be alone afterwards, Erin went to each and every body, checking for pulses. Even the ones that were in multiple pieces.

No survivors. Never any survivors. Never any reason.

Even as she started to shake almost as much as Gunn was, Erin looked around. It was so similar.

"We have to go," she choked out, backing away, unable to turn around. "Whatever did this, it could- it could still be here." When the back of her legs hit the steps, Erin managed to look at Gunn. "Stand up right now," she ordered.

He didn't even look at her.

"Gunn, get up!" she yelled. "Get up now!"

When he still didn't moved, Erin grabbed him and pulled him back up the stairs, away from the nightmare.

xxx

Silverfang watched from a handy rooftop as the two figures left the gang's home. Even at this distance, he could see how shaken they looked, how their legs didn't quite seem to be working right. With the string of beads back around his hand, he stood tall and proud in human form once again. The fresh blood around his mouth dripped down onto his shirt.

And he smiled.

xxx

Wesley didn't slam the book shut; he treated his books with respect, he did, after all, like them quite a bit. But this book was not being particularly helpful. Sighing, he picked it up and crossed to the low bookshelf.

"Any luck?" Angel asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"All of it bad," Wesley replied. "There's nothing in the police reports that points to any one master vampire. Some of the deaths aren't even vampiric at all, from what I can tell. More like..."

He trailed off as Angel walked out of the office into the lobby. Curious, Wesley followed him. Caitlin was standing by the front door, hands stuffed in pockets.

"Caitlin," Angel said. "What are you doing here?"

"When you went after Holtz, were you doing it for me or for you?" she asked.

"Bit of both," he replied.

"Finally a bit of honesty," Caitlin said, nodding. "I take it there's nothing else I should know, say for example any prophecies saying 'the father will kill the daughter'?"

"Not as far as we know," Wesley said.

"Good. We have a problem, by the way."

"When don't we?" asked Cordelia, coming down the stairs. "You ok, Cait?"

"Yeah, but a vampire I killed today said something was coming, something that would destroy everything," Caitlin said, flopping down onto the sofa. "It claimed to have been clearing the way for someone called Silverfang to stop it," she said. "Seemed too much of a coincidence with all the missing people."

"That's what they all had in common," Wesley said. "Of course. Demons, natural wiccas, even the magic seller, all of them were technically on our side. Even if just by default."

"There's been whispering all summer of something rising. It's got all the bad guys twitching," Caitlin said. "They're scared of what's coming. And when scary things get scared, generally not good."

"So why waste time taking out minor forces of good?" Angel asked.

"In Quor'toth, you cleared territory before a big hunt so nothing little threw off your game," Caitlin said. "I think the vampires have a leader or an army or something, ready to fight whatever's coming. The one I killed mentioned a- Gunn!"

Angel looked round. Gunn and Erin were by the back door, Gunn leaning heavily on Erin.

"They're- They're..." Erin looked desperately from Angel to Wesley. "Something..."

"All dead," Gunn whispered. "They're all dead. Whole gang, just like that."

There was a long pause.

Angel reacted first, hurrying forward to help Gunn down the stairs. Wesley was right behind him and gently took Erin's arm, spotting the blood covering her hands. She shrugged out of his hold.

"Call Liam," she said softly. "Tell him what happened. I have to go."

"Erin-"

"Just take care of Gunn, alright?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Make this right."

She was out of the door again before Wesley could stop her. He turned, seeing Cordelia trying to get any reaction out of Gunn and his gaze fell on Caitlin.

"Would-"

"On it," she replied and hurried after Erin. Caitlin was very, very glad to be out of that room. She'd liked the gang and she'd seen enough in Quor'toth to easily imagine what had happened to them. She'd seen the survivors as well and they were never the same as they had been. They never survived long, either.

"Hey!" Caitlin yelled, partly trying to get Erin's attention, partly trying to stop herself thinking those thoughts.

Erin waited for Caitlin to catch up with her. "What?"

"Um, Wes sent me."

"To do what?"

"I don't know."

"Never do anything unless you know exactly what you're doing, kid," Erin said. "What were you saying before, about some sort of vampire crusade?"

"The vamp said he was clearing the way for someone called 'Silverfang' to start some sort of last line of defence."

"'Kay, thanks," Erin said, turning away again. "Tell Wes to ask Liam about the psychic readings from the seers for me, will you?"

"Um, ok," Caitlin said as Erin walked away.

xxx

Erin entered Caelum in not the most patient of moods and roughly shoved her way past several patrons to get to the bar. Lorne was there and right then she was so pathetically glad that she didn't have to tell him anything for him to know everything.

"Erin, I'm so sorry," he said, red eyes sad.

"I need to know what did it and I need to know it now," Erin said.

"I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?"

"You could be killed."

"It's not like that hasn't happened before," she answered, brushing past him to the stairs. She didn't have time to swap words with a ridiculous demon.

In her room, Erin took the mirror down and shoved it under her bed. Then she went into the bathroom and scrubbed until all the blood was gone from her palms and fingers. Wiping damp hands on her jeans, Erin went back into the main room and found her shoulder bag, putting the magical detection sphere and the notes she had on it and LA into the bag.

Lorne probably would argue with her if she went out through the bar. Well, that wasn't a huge problem. Erin walked to the window and opened it, sticking her head out to find a decent way down. That would do. Making sure the bag was secure across her chest, Erin clambered out of the window.

xxx

Gunn was numb.

No, that wasn't right. He could feelsomething, but it was a long way off. Like hearing someone scream a couple of blocks away. It wasn't _real_.

But this was real. The blood on his sleeve, where Erin had grabbed him, that was real. The looks on the others' faces, they were real too.

Something had torn his friends apart.

He was on his feet and striding for the door before Cordy could react. It was Angel who grabbed his arm and made him stop.

"You go out, you'll get killed," Angel said. "We need more information."

"Then I'll get it," he protested.

Angel just had to look at him. He knew as well as Gunn did that his way of getting any information on this thing would be to try and kill it. Which wouldn't work particularly well. It only took a moment before Gunn backed down.

"You try and deal with this without me, I'll stake you," he said, and it was not a threat. It was a simple statement about how the future would go.

"Acceptable terms," Angel said. "You stay here. Wes!"

The Englishman came out of the office. "What?"

"What's Liam say?"

"'If anything happens to Erin, I'll fillet you'," Wesley dutifully repeated. "He doesn't know anymore than we do."

"What about the Seers?" Caitlin asked. "Erin mentioned them."

"I'll ask," Wesley said, ducking back into the office.

"Caitlin, can you and Connor sweep the streets, beat up the right people, that sort of thing?" Angel asked.

"Who's the 'right people'?"

"Pick someone and see who he tells you when his teeth are on the floor," Gunn said, sitting back down.

"We can do that," she said and hurried out.

Angel watched her go, thinking rapidly.

"I'll go check out the scene," he said quietly to Cordelia. "You stay here with Gunn and do not let him leave, alright?"

"Ok," she replied. "Be careful."

He smiled at her for a moment and headed for the door, letting it swung shut behind him with a _thud._

Gunn leant forward and put his head in his hands. He was shaking. Cordy sat next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. There weren't any words for this sort of moment. Actions were all you had left.

And sometimes, they weren't quite enough.

xxx

It had been very hard to go down those steps the first time, knowing _something _terrible was down there. It was almost as hard to go back down a second time, knowing exactly what was waiting for her at the bottom. But Erin had done it. Nothing is quite as bad as not knowing. Nothing is worse than that horrible, pointless hope that stirred inside and whispered, _maybe they're ok._ It wasn't despair that killed people, it was stupid, hopeless _hope_.

But because she was only human, heck, she was only a kid, Erin hoped. For happiness and a decent life and maybe just being left alone. But that didn't mean she expected any of it to happen.

The stench of death was even stronger already and Erin made a concentrated effort to breath only through her mouth. Throwing up would not help anyone.

"What are you doing here?"

Erin spun around. Angel was standing by the bottom of the stairs.

"God, you do not sneak up on someone after a massacre!" she almost yelped. Almost, but not quite.

"Sorry," he said. "It's just... surprising."

"What, a girl who doesn't faint at some blood and guts?" Erin replied, taking refuge in being flippant. "Not like I haven't seen it before."

"You were here when Gunn found them?" Angel asked, coming further in. He was being very careful to step around all the bodies.

_A vamp showing some basic decency. Who would have thought it? _Erin banished the thought quickly. Angel was meant to be different. "Yeah," she said.

"Why are you here?"

"Same reason as you. To figure out what did this and how to kill it."

"You know what to look for?"

"Look at the door," was her only reply.

Angel did so, and spotted what she had: the length of chain looped around the handle and the broken padlock laying beneath it.

"The door was locked when we got here," Erin continued softly. "Gunn had to break it open. I've never met a vampire hunter who would lock themselves in with something that could do this."

"So it locked them in with it," Angel said.

"Which means it's a smart it. Padlocks take something resembling intelligence and possibly opposable thumbs."

Angel got what she was hinting at. "A vampire couldn't do this."

"You're the expert." She made her way cautiously to one of the high windows, which was really only at about pavement height. It had been boarded up at some point, but the planks of wood were now shattered and splintered. "I think it got out through this."

"So it can jump as well. Maybe a hell beast. Or a kath'muri," Angel suggested, kneeling down to examine the body of a young boy. He had been ripped almost in two.

"What about that thing that went after Connor and Caitlin?"

"She looked human."

"So do you," Erin said. "Although I'd agree it was a more beast-like nastie that did this." She was standing on a box to get a better look at the edge of the window. "Damned if I know what though."

Angel stood up as she hopped down from the box. "Hey, Erin?"

"Yeah?" she asked, scrubbing her hands on her trousers.

"You've seen this before, or something similar, haven't you?"

"Just like this? No. The last time I saw this, humans had done it. To make a bloody point. Really bloody." She saw the look in his eyes and suppressed a sigh. "Long time ago, ok? And there's nothing here. Least, nothing useful."

"I should call the police," Angel said.

"Yeah, that'd be best," Erin said. By the steps to the surface, she paused. "I wonder how long it would have been before anyone missed them if Gunn hadn't survived."

"We'll find what did this."

"It'll still be too late," Erin said and was half way up the stairs before Angel could even begin to think of anything to say.

xxx

Connor kicked the first door open and quickly checked the room. Further down the corridor, Caitlin was doing the same thing to a different room. Somewhere in this building was a demon, a demon who might know something. They would find it. There was no question about that. They had known the gang.

He heard the demon before he saw it and was out of the room and down the corridor in time to see a green tail disappear around the corner. Caitlin was just behind him and together they ploughed on.

This was personal.

xxx

As Erin pounded on a shop door, she had thanked the gods that Mr Reilly had made sure she knew about all the magic users in LA. Without that information, she would've been flying blind. But with all the chaos in LA at the moment, most of the decent magic users seemed to have skipped town. The only one left she could find was a certain BR Perks. For Nemo's sake, she had spent the entire summer with the best of Ireland's Mages and now all she could find was a low-level American _conjurer_.

"Look," she said for the umpteenth time. "I know it's late-"

"It's not late, it's _early_!" Perks squawked, standing on his own front step in a ratty dressing gown.

"I need you're help-"

"My office hours are eleven to eight, come back tomorrow."

Erin stuck her foot in the doorway before he could close the door completely.

"I do not have a great deal of time," she said, trying to mimic the icy, intimidating tone her uncle had loved so much. Judging from the look on Perks' face, it was working. "I need you to test a bit of demon fur, tell me what race it is, and then I will pay you five times the going rate and mention you to the Reillys."

"You know them?"

"Old family friend."

Perks was obviously torn for a moment, but the name of 'Reilly' carried a lot of weight with magic users. And people with little power and respect were always desperate for a little more. Grudgingly, he stepped aside and let her in. His workshop would have made Mr Reilly tut and shake his head, but it seemed to be decently, if basically, equipped.

"What was it you wanted me to test?" he asked.

Erin pulled a tuft of dark coloured fur out of her pocket. She'd found it caught on the edge of the broken window and, well, Angel hadn't spotted it and he wouldn't have been able to do anything with it even if he had. The weird mix of chemistry and magic needed to identify bits of demons was easy enough to learn, but few knew it. Watchers never bothered with it, much preferring to search through dozens of books. But the O'Neils had always loved shortcuts.

Perks took the hair. "Nice sized sample, well done. Any idea what it was?"

"Big and nasty enough to tear a gang of kids apart," Erin said. "How long will it take?"

"Ten, fifteen minutes."

"You've got five."

He made annoyed noises, but didn't actively complain. Erin found a clear bit of bench and pulled herself up, watching Perks fuss around. Unhooking the bag from across her chest, Erin carelessly dumped it on the bench next to her, nearly knocking a small glass cube to the floor.

"Be careful!" Perks snapped. "Focuses don't grow on trees you know!"

"This is a focus?" Erin asked, turning the fragile little cube over in her hands. She'd seen focuses, items used to channel and increase the power of spells. Liam used a silver cross and Mr Reilly had a crystal-topped walking stick. "What is it?"

"A trapped spirit," Perks replied. "Ah, here we go," he said, turning to check on his experiment, which was bubbling green.

Erin suppressed a shudder. The use of bound spirits was on the same level with necromancy and nothing was creepier than necromancy. Bound spirits would, in theory, fail to move on to whatever was after this life. And Erin had spent a decade not moving on to whatever was next. As Perks yelped – the green goop was eating its way through his sleeve – Erin slipped the box into her bag. That she would deal with later.

"Well, does green slime mean anything?" she asked brightly.

Perks was scrubbing his arm with his other sleeve, but he spared the time for a disgusted look for Erin. "Werewolf."

"Oh, crap."

xxx

Silverfang had not been overly keen on the idea of a werewolf-vampire alliance at first, but now he had to admit that it had been a good idea. The vampires' leader, although useless in day to day affairs, kept them suitably cowed and she had amazing taste in assistants. Lilith, an excessively young vampire who'd only been dead for thirty years, made up for her youth with excessive sneakiness and damn fine looks. Her lust almost matched his and their relationship was certainly one way to cement the alliance.

When he came back, covered in young blood and still half-drunk with the slaughter, she was waiting for him.

"You went without me," she said, pouting. "It's not even like they had killed any of your men."

"Like you cared about those new-bites," Silverfang said, pulling her close. "I needed a really vile kill."

"Mm, I can smell it on you," Lilith said. "That and... other things."

"Will your little leader mind if we slip off for a few hours?"

"Please, she keeps calling me 'Miss Edith'," Lilith said, rolling her eyes. "We can go."

"Good."

xxx

"Look, I don't care what form he's in," Erin snapped down the phone. "Do you have any idea how much this call is costing me? Slap him into something resembling human shape and put him on!"

xxx

Angel knocked the last of the demons unconscious with no effort whatsoever and grabbed the card table, overturning it. The human, who had just watched Angel dispose of the best bodyguards he could afford, did so not much scream when Angel pulled him up, but squeal. Shock will do that to a man.

"_Who killed them?_" Angel demanded, vamping out.

xxx

"A werewolf," Erin said again. "Yes, I'm sure. Look, this wasn't an accident in its first full moon, this was a room full of teenagers and it locked the damn door behind it!" She shifted from foot to foot as the man on the other end started some longwinded explanation. Or excuse, really. "You're not who I want to talk to, so be a good little monk and put him on," she interrupted. "Please? I really don't want to take up any more of your-" _my _"-valuable time."

The line went quiet as the placated monk wandered off to do as she asked. He had been the fifth person she'd spoken to, with opinions varying from cosmic harmony to slaughter the lot of them. Liam had told her about this monastery in Tibet and right now she was wishing it had been a silent order. Erin straightened as the other phone was picked up again.

"Mr Osbourne?" she asked. "I'm Erin O'Neil, a friend of Mr Reilly and I was wondering if you knew a murderous werewolf called Silverfang?"

When she stepped out of the phone-box five minutes later, Erin knew everything she needed to know. Thank the gods for the Reillys. Sometimes it was good to have connections.

But the trouble with knowing everything you needed to know was that, well, that never included what to do with that information. Erin knew what, who even, had killed the gang, she knew it deserved to die and she knew how to kill it. With her little magical detection sphere – and she really needed to give it a better name – she could even find this Silverfang. But she didn't know who to tell.

Gunn wanted to know and he wanted to deal with it. No, he _needed _to deal with it. Angel and the gang wanted to help, and that was a want, not a need. Telling Angel would automatically put him in charge of the slaughtering of the slaughterer, because he was the big champion, or should that be Champion, and did this sort of thing all the time. Telling Gunn would probably get him killed. Because, to Gunn, it was _personal. _

Personal will get you killed.

That had been rule number one, when she was a little girl. Even before the stuff about not fighting anything that was bigger than you or never going out without a cross or some holy water. You went out and fought and killed, but you never did it because it was personal. That was just revenge, which, unless you had someone to drag you back, resulted in death.

She knew what her uncle would do. Paul O'Neil had little time for personal vendettas and had once locked a widow in a cellar for two days to stop her going after her husband's murderer. But then, he had never lost someone really close to him. Paul had never married and seemed to care for no one but her father, Patrick O'Neil. It was lucky that Paul hadn't outlived his beloved older brother, because Erin suspected that that was the only thing that would make him lose control. To Paul, emotions were dangerous, and personal will get you killed.

But Paul wasn't alive. He'd been killed by the vampire wearing his sister-in-law's face, which was personal to the vampire if not to him. And she had had to find him afterwards and destroy his body to stop it becoming personal for her as well.

_Personal _hadn't killed Paul. Fighting alone had. _Personal _just gave your fight the kind of fire and anger that was necessary to survive.

Erin entered the Hyperion, nodded a greeting to Wes and slowly ascended the stairs to find Gunn. He was sitting on a bed in one of the many empty rooms. Just sitting there.

"Hey," he said as she entered.

Erin nervously twisted the edge of her jacket around her fingers. "I know what killed them," she said finally. "It was a werewolf. And it knew what it was doing. And I know how to kill it. And how to find it."

There. It was said. Gunn would have his revenge if he wanted it. If he needed it.

Slowly he stood up and pulled on his jacket, walking to the door. Erin stood still, unsure of what to do.

"Come on," Gunn said as he reached the door. "I need your help to do this."

Yes, Gunn would have his revenge.

And she would be there to pull him back.


	28. Chapter 28

Huge apologies for the delay - there were one or two slight technical errors. Enjoy!

xxx

Gunn watched as Erin carefully open the magical sphere and dropped a small clump of werewolf fur into it.

"Show me," she whispered. "Give me a trail. Give me a kill."

The sphere glowed in her hands and Erin slowly turned in a circle until the glow gathered on one side only.

"That way."

"What is that?"

"Tracking sphere; it reacts to the essence imprints left by otherworldly creatures," Erin said as they started to follow the sphere's direction.

"You're not some sort of mage, are you?"

"Nah, Mr Reilly made this for me."

"Liam Reilly?"

"Liam's dad, actually. He was friends with my family, at one point. Owed the O'Neils one, apparently."

"And he repaid you with a bewitched bit of glass?"

"Hey, don't knock it. Thing's bloody useful."

"So we follow it to the werewolf?"

"That's the plan."

"And then what?"

"Then we kill it."

"A werewolf is human mostly, right?"

Erin stopped and turned to look at him. "Yes. But this werewolf knew what it was going to do to your friends. His name is Silverfang; he was thrown out of this wolf community in Tibet a couple of years back for violence. He's been slaughtering people all over the world ever since. Your call."

She was glad when he hesitated for a moment, obviously considering.

"How do we kill it?" he asked finally.

"You must know how to use one of these with a name like yours," Erin replied, passing him a pistol.

Gunn checked the magazine. "Silver bullets?"

"I'm a traditionalist," she said with a smile. "Besides, they're the easiest way to take the big bad wolf down."

"Cool. Let's go."

xxx

Connor thumped the demon's skull against the wall one final time, just to make sure it was unconscious, before letting it drop to the floor.

"How many is that?" Caitlin asked.

"Twenty three. And none of them with any useful information."

"Or any information at all."

"Did you tell Angel just how stupid his plan was?"

"Insulting him is your job, remember?"

"Do you think it was the same thing that came after us?"

Caitlin shook her head. "Gunn had seen a genuine Quor'toth-type slaughter. The thing that attacked up was more... I don't know, controlled." She looked over his shoulder. "And also standing behind you."

"Oh, sweetie, don't mind me," said Empusa, grinning.

"I threw you out of a window," Connor said, crossing his arms and moving slightly to shield Caitlin. "What is it going to take to get rid of you?"

"Something bigger than you," she said. "God, you kids are so cute, all fearsome and feisty. So defensive and protective. Not gonna work though."

Connor was already raising his hands to deflect the approaching blow, but Empusa grabbed one of his arms and twisted until the bone snapped. Connor went pale. Empusa looked at him. She wasn't capable of pity.

"Silly boy," she said and kicked Connor's legs out from under him. Even as Caitlin started forward, Empusa casually kicked Connor in the head, knocking him unconscious.

"That's it then," Empusa said. "All girls together." And smiled.

xxx

Erin shook the globe a few times, but the little glow didn't move. For some reason, she badly wanted it to move. "I think we're here," she said uncertainly. "Are we near the docks?"

"Something wrong, kid?" Gunn asked. "Sphere mucking around?"

"No, it's fine." She considered the building again.

"Okay, so what it is?"

"Have we been here before? Were we here earlier?"

"Don't think so."

"I think I've been here, but I know I haven't, Gunn."

"Kid?"

"There were Kalifs," Erin whispered. "Sixteen of them. I killed them, I know I did, but I've never faced even one demon on my own. And in that hotel of yours I could feel something walking all over my grave." Her voice was becoming more panicked with each word.

Gunn gently turned her to face him. "Erin, you're just freaking out. It's natural, okay? Look, maybe you should stay out of this. Kid's got no place fighting a werewolf. Something comes outta there on four legs, you run, got it?" When she nodded, albeit reluctantly, Gunn smiled and ruffled her hair. "There's my girl. Now, stay safe."

Erin slunk against the wall as Gunn crossed to the door and kicked it open, trying to ignore the bit of her that was screaming for her to follow.

xxx

Lilith stretched out on the make-shift bed, enjoying a cigarette. Her boss was infuriating, there weren't nearly as many opportunities for personal gain as she had hoped and the food in LA sucked, but all was not lost. She had Silverfang, who showed her the best time of her entire unlife. But Lilith was a vampire of progress, preferably her own, and LA was rapidly becoming a dead end. She'd been kicking her heels here for weeks in preparation for some Armageddon and nothing had happened.

At least, not until now. Vamp senses stretched to maximum, Lilith slipped off the bed and found her clothes. The important thing was not to panic, make any loud noises or try to face the enemy whilst stark naked. Although, that had worked rather well in Prague... But it wasn't a mob approaching, it seemed to be just one little human. Well, one human could do a lot of damage to one vampire if he was lucky. Lilith, now fully dressed, eased the door open to get a view of the main room. There was the human, over by the main doors.

And this was just impossible. Silverfang had gone to kill this idiot earlier tonight! Charles Gunn was meant to be very, very dead but here he was, looking revenge-bound and apparently armed with his very own namesake. Out of the entire gang, Silverfang had to leave the most dangerous alive to come looking for a little payback. Idiot.

Lilith was a young, relatively unknown vampire but that was part of her charm. The legendary Angelus or Spike might send all the girls swooning, but Lilith could make as much money as she wanted, kill anyone she wanted and do it all without every trainee vamp hunter dogging her every move. And she intended to continue doing whatever she wanted for a long time. Silverfang had got himself into this mess, he could deal with it. No famous last stand for her, not even for her bed-fellow.

Silently, Lilith closed the door and turned around. The window was as good a way to leave as any. It wasn't until the window was open and she was half out that she looked at Silverfang again.

"Thanks for the memories, big guy," she whispered and ducked out through the window.

xxx

Empusa blocked Caitlin's punch and threw the girl back into the wall.

"Don't fight this," she said. "It's a glorious day, sweetie."

Caitlin glared at her, but didn't attack this time. "Why are you after us?"

"You always refer to yourself in the plural?"

"You're not after Connor?"

"Connor's sweet, not important. Much like his father. No, little Caitlin, it's you I'm after." She raised one arm to block the knife Caitlin threw. "And that's just rude." The knife had lodged itself in her arm; she yanked it free and idly spun it around her hand, even as her arm healed. "I go to all this trouble, I do you all these favours and what do I get? Knives thrown at me, that's what I get!"

"What favours?" Caitlin spat.

"The boy's still breathing, isn't he?"

"You leave him alone."

Quicker even than Angel, Empusa snatched Caitlin and slammed her up against the wall.

"You think you can order me around, kid?" Empusa snapped, gripping Caitlin tightly around the throat. "I serve the one who will bring your world to its knees and leave it begging for mercy. I will kill your brother if he gets in my way, but he's lying there with a broken arm and a bruised skull so I don't need to worry about that."

Caitlin gasped for breath, trying to shove Empusa away. She was not going to die in some LA back alley! "Go to hell!"

"Don't need to, kid. Hell's coming to us."

And Empusa leant forward, pressing her lips against Caitlin's.

xxx

Gunn kicked the door, not just knocking it open but knocking it off its hinges. As it clattered on the dust covered floor, he levelled the pistol at the bed.

"Honey, I'm home."

And pulled the trigger.

Silverfang was moving before the first bullet had left the gun, rolling off the bed and up to grab Gunn's hand and force the pistol up to point at the ceiling, which was soon peppered with holes. The werewolf twisted Gunn's hand, giving him the option of dropping the gun or losing most of his fingers. As soon as the pistol hit the floor, Silverfang slammed both hands into Gunn's chest, sending the young man flying backwards.

Gunn landed back in the main room, winded, and started to scramble up again as Silverfang approached.

"Damn, I knew I missed one of you," the werewolf said. "And now you go and save me the trouble of finding you. Two slaughters in one day; I have been a good boy." He stepped forward, very deliberately and very hard, pinning Gunn to the floor with a foot on his chest.

"You son of a bitch."

"Actually, Mother was a human." Silverfang looked down, considering Gunn. "Did you really think it would be so easy to kill me? A couple of silver bullets? Don't I deserve a little more respect than that? I just killed everyone you know."

Erin smacked Silverfang across the head with the metal bar as hard as she could. "Not quite everyone."

He roared in true animalistic fury as he went head over heels. Gunn was already back on his feet and Erin hurried to stand by him.

"Thought I told you to stay outside," Gunn said. "Not that I'm complaining."

Silverfang straightened up and turned to look at the two humans. And charged.

"Split!" Erin yelled, diving instinctively to the side as Gunn threw himself the other way.

The werewolf slammed into the floor where they had just been, hard enough to send chips of concrete flying. Erin rolled over and up, still hanging onto her makeshift weapon. Gunn needed to get armed again and now. Silverfang wasn't moving, but he was obviously examining the pair of them. Two targets, so which one to kill first? That was always the question. As his gaze locked onto her, Erin knew he found his answer. Behind him, Gunn was trying to ease himself forward silently.

Silverfang spun and kicked Gunn in the chest, knocking him down. Erin swung with the bar, but Silverfang caught it without even looking and wrenched it out of her hands, spinning it around and stabbing Gunn through the leg with it, pinning him. Gunn yelled in pain. Then the werewolf was moving again, grabbing Erin and pulling her close, one hand around her throat.

"Want to see how your friends died?" Silverfang asked. "You might even get to hear how they screamed."

"You leave her alone!" Gunn roared.

"It's a pity you weren't there the first time," Silverfang continued. "I mean, all they needed was a little organisation. A little leadership. A leader, maybe, who was actually there."

"Shut up."

"There was this one kid, looked a bit like you actually, he tried to keep them together, fighting as a team. Think his name was Rondell." Silverfang smiled, all teeth and malicious pleasure. "I ripped him to shreds even as he begged for mercy."

Erin started to laugh.

"What?" Silverfang demanded, shaking her. You could see his point; he had her throat in his hands.

"Come off it," she gasped out. "You really expect Gunn to believe that? I've only met Rondell once, but I know he wasn't the begging type. He died screaming curses and trying to kill you and-"

Silverfang tightened his grip, cutting off her voice and her air supply. "I thought I recognised you. Red hair, bit too mouthy, delusions of intelligence. You're an O'Neil."

"Born and raised, mate. And we kill things like you."

"Wrong. _I_ kill things like _you_."

And he threw her across the room. Erin landed heavily, biting back a scream as something dug into her back. But behind Silverfang, Gunn was working the bar out of his leg. Okay, distract the killer werewolf. Great.

"I met Patrick O'Neil once," Silverfang continued, walking forward. "He was a good fighter, maybe not as quite as good as he thought."

"Weird, he never mentioned you," Erin taunted. "Guess you didn't exactly feature-"

He kicked her hard in the side. She rolled with the force, her ribs protesting loudly. Gunn had better hurry up or she would have to do something drastic. More drastic.

"Touched a nerve there, huh?" she forced out, managing to sit up. "Oh, I know you, Silverfang. A nasty little freak who should have been drowned at birth. Even your own mother was scared of you and that's when you were still human."

Silverfang hauled Erin up and slapped her across the face. "You will die slowly."

Gunn had managed to get the metal bar out of his leg. The hole in his leg made standing impossible, but he was kneeling instead and took aim carefully, throwing the bar like a javelin to bury itself in Silverfang's shoulder. The werewolf roared and dropped Erin, who scrambled away. He ripped the bar back out of his should and crossed to Gunn in just a few strides, grabbing the human.

"Give your friends my regards," he said, levelling the pole at his throat. Gunn spat in his face.

And reeled back as blood splattered over his face, his neck, his shirt...

Silverfang turned to face Erin and she fired again, face cold. But two holes in the chests weren't enough to stop a werewolf, not one this powerful or so drunk on pure blood-lust. You had to get the head as well. With the gun, at that moment, Erin could have done it. She'd let Gunn try to do it on his own and he had nearly died because of it. Uncle Paul had never let people kill their own monsters. But then, he had always had to keep going back to help the same people over and over again.

Erin shot out Silverfang's kneecaps as Gunn stood. Keeping as much weight as possible off his bad leg, he looked down at the werewolf that had destroyed everything he had fought for. He didn't have to look to catch the pistol Erin threw to him and in a moment it was up against Silverfang's temple.

"Go to hell," he whispered and pulled the trigger.

Silverfang's dead body slumped, blood and brains staining the floor and spreading out in a growing pool.

Erin turned away. Her throat hurt, her back hurt, _everything_ hurt.So, walking away, she picked up her bag from where she'd left it before the fight and just kept heading for the door.

"Erin," Gunn called. "Erin!"

She kept walking. She'd helped him enough.

xxx

Erin entered her room the same way she'd left it: through the window. She didn't want to deal with Lorne. Or Gunn. Or anyone, really. Dumping her bag on the table, she sat down and waited. She didn't want to see anyone, which meant she probably had less than ten minutes before someone came to bother her.

True to form, life gave her twelve minutes before there was a pounding on her poor, abused door. Erin bit back curses on all things corporeal and pulled herself up to yank the door open.

"What?" she demanded.

Wesley was standing there, looking singularly unimpressed. "You let Gunn go after a _werewolf?_"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Wes, you have to kill your demons. Otherwise they kill you."

"Fighting a werewolf could have killed him."

"I wasn't talking about that kind of death and you know it. So, you came to scold me on your own steam or did Angel send you?"

"Angel's with Gunn in the hospital. He'll be fine, by the way."

"I really doubt that. Goodnight."

Shutting the door, Erin waited until she heard Wesley walk away. She wasn't planning to do much, but she still had the stolen focus in her bag. Breaking the focus would release the spirit inside, that was simple enough. But breaking it here would give her apartment its very own Casper and she had enough problems without a roommate. She'd have to take it to consecrated ground and smash it there. Easy banishing, without the ick factor of exorcisms.

But the cube wasn't in her bag anymore. Erin searched through the bag, tipped everything out and there was no damn cube. A few minutes frantic searching found the cube on top of one of the work-surfaces in her kitchen area.

"Great, you move on your own, do you?" she asked, picking it up. "Guess I should explain everything to you. Come on outta there, ghostie."

Nothing happened.

"Look, I know this isn't exactly the normal way to get you to come out and talk, but still. Would you rather I started gabbling Latin and zapping you?"

The cube started to glow softly. Erin put it down quickly and backed away.

"Good, 'cause my Latin sucks," she murmured and closed her eyes. Watching spirits reassemble made her stomach turn. She waited until the air currents stopped moving and the swearing stopped before opening her eyes again.

The guy standing in front of her must only have been about her age. Dark hair, leather coat, thin face. A normal, regular guy, or something that looked like a normal, regular guy. To make even a halfway decent focus, the spirit couldn't be just a normal human.

"Hey," she said.

The spirit jumped and spun, looking seriously freaked out.

"It's okay," Erin hastened to add. "I'm no conjurer. Don't want to enslave your spirit or anything. Just thought we should talk. Are you- Is something wrong?"

He was staring at her, but managed to shake his head once or twice. "Uh, talk about what? Neela, what in the hell is going on?"

Erin stared. "How do you know that name?"

"What do you mean? It's your name."

"It's not my name!" she yelled. "Who the hell are you? Or were you, as the case may be?"

The ghost was clearly just as confused as she was. "Come on, I'm Doyle. I haunted your apartment for two months!"

"This is my first apartment, you ridiculous little spook! I haven't been on this mortal coil for an entire decade."

Doyle stopped in mid gesture. "Bloody hell. Erin O'Neil. The real Erin O'Neil. I get trapped in a cube by a pissed-off killer demon for, what, six months and everything goes to hell. Nemo! Get your omnipotent ass down here!" he yelled at the ceiling.

Erin frowned. She didn't need a crazy ghost in her home, not right now. "Look, Doyle-"

_There you are. I leave you alone for five minutes and you go missing on me, that's just great. _

She heard the voice without it apparently going through her ears. Moving slowly, her hand reached behind her for a kitchen knife. Her fingers had just closed around the knife's handle when it shot away to bury itself in the wall.

_Erin, it's just me, Nemo. _

"I thought you couldn't manifest outside of those weird caves."

_I can't. Hence the creepy silent talking. Damn it, Erin. Why are you still in LA? You're meant to be smarter than this. _

"I'm an O'Neil. We don't do smart."

_Not strictly true. Erin, things are moving faster than I realised, for you at least. When I sent you back, I thought you'd have enough time to grow up before I needed you on the frontlines. Life has decided differently, though. I'm sorry, but there are some things you have to know. _

"Like what?"

_Doyle, can you do it?_

"Boss, that wasn't part of the plan," Doyle protested.

"Do what? What plan?" Erin demanded.

_We don't have a choice, Doyle. It won't hurt her._

"You don't know that. Nemo, humans are more than the physical. They're not like you."

_Do you have another idea? Look, just do it and stay with her. She'll have questions. _

The pressure in Erin's head eased. Nemo had left, or tuned out or whatever it was he did. Snatching up the cube, she held it out to Doyle.

"I will stuff you back in and toss it in the ocean, you don't give me some answers," she threatened.

"I'm going to," he said softly. "Kid, I'm sorry but Nemo's right. You have to grow up."

He laid one hand on her forehead.

Images swarmed in front of her eyes.

_Different cities, different streets, all the same though, all full of blood and death and stupid humans who couldn't see what was right in front of them. Fighting, always fighting, never knowing why. Following their orders and feeling dirty for doing it and again never quite knowing why. A pinch of humanity. Three years of fighting and killing shot past her eyes, each moment stretching out to show her everything. _

_Blood. _

_Screams._

_And not all of them other people's._

The cube fell from shaking fingers to shatter across the floor.

xxx

Lilith stalked back into the main HQ, thoroughly annoyed. The usual mix of vampires and werewolves were lounging around, some sleeping, some just killing time until they were given a new victim to kill instead. Well, with Silverfang gone, this fragile alliance was about to shatter and Lilith did not intend to let the werewolves walk away. Unless her crazy boss had managed to work miracles, they needed the werewolves. Vampires were almost useless in the daylight, but these werewolves had no such problem.

Pulling one of her more trusted minions to the side, Lilith gave several orders and was pleased when they were accepted without question. Silverfang and his boys had been useful, not particularly well liked. The vampire hurried to do as it was told as Lilith continued onwards and downwards, heading for the real centre of the alliance.

Upstairs might be a tip, but this room was, well, it was luxurious. Pretty. And thoroughly creepy, of course, although that had as much to do with the occupant as the décor. Lilith couldn't help but shiver. China dolls had always given her the creeps, even as a human.

"Ma'am?" she called. "We have an... unforeseen development. Silverfang is dead; without him, we can't control the werewolves. If we're to deal with them, it needs to be soon. When the sun has risen, they'll have the advantage."

The figure sitting at the dressing table didn't answer, bur just continued stroking the hair of the doll in her lap. Lilith could hear the soft murmur of a lullaby and inwardly groaned. Of all the times for her boss to be totally wacko. Well, she'd just have to make this decision herself. At least it was an easy decision. They'd kill the werewolves, simple as that.

It wasn't until Lilith had turned to leave, when her hand was actually on the door handle itself that her boss spoke.

"Miss Edith can't wait to play with her new toy."

Lilith blinked. She really sucked at riddles. "What new toy?" she hazarded.

"It's a secret. Shh," the vampire whispered, one elegant finger against the doll's lips. "Miss Edith will spoil the surprise."

"Okay," Lilith said finally. "Yeah, that would be, um, bad, wouldn't it?" She was backing towards the door, without the faintest attempt at subtlety.

Even vampires are scared of some things.

xxx


	29. Chapter 29

Caitlin had been knocked unconscious more times than she cared to think about. She'd been thrown into walls, trees, boulders, even over a cliff once or twice. Every single inch of her had been bruised, bloody, whipped, slapped, burnt, you name it, it had happened to Caitlin at some point.

But she had never been kissed before.

She was fairly certain, though, that a simple kiss was not supposed to leave her feeling like she'd gone six rounds with a Grox'lar beast. Caitlin kept her eyes shut and stamped on the pain, driving so far down into herself that it thudded in time with her heartbeat.

Trying to stand up proved a little premature. She ended up on hands and knees, trying to cough up her own lungs. It wasn't until she spat out a mouthful of blood that she could breath again. Giving up on standing, Caitlin crawled to Connor, shaking him.

"Con? Connor, wake up," she said. "Come on! Wake up!"

Brown eyes, so like her own, opened to look blearily at her for only a second before closing again.

"No way, no way in Quor'toth are you leaving me like this, Connor," Caitlin muttered, pulling herself up, using the wall for support more than her legs.

Getting Connor upright was doable, using the helpful wall and by yelling orders at him in a voice that cracked. Connor would obey orders in his sleep, for crying out loud, would obey orders when he was dying, when he should be dead.

Finally, the twins stumbled from the alley, each clinging to the other for support.

xxx

Gunn slid off the hospital bed, the pain in his leg stabbing deeper with each step he took. Angel was at the door in an instant, looking ready and willing to knock Gunn out himself.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Angel, I gotta find Erin."

"The girl from earlier? Why?"

"I just do." Gunn ducked under Angel's arm; he was _not_ lying down again.

"Wes went to see her; she's fine."

"I gotta talk to her. Now."

Angel looked at the expression on Gunn's face. "Fine. But I'm driving you." His tone said that, a) he fully expected Gunn to argue and that, b) it wouldn't do any good.

"Dude, no way am I walking that far."

xxx

Erin didn't own much. Some clothes, a single photo of her family that Mr Reilly had found for her, one or two books, no more jewellery than the stuff she wore every day. No mementoes. No weapons. It all fitted into a single backpack, and right now it was all packed up.

As she pulled on a combat jacket that was just slightly too large, like most of her clothes, Erin tried not to think about what she was about to do.

"Erin," Doyle said to her back. "Just wait a minute."

"No," she replied steadily. "No more waiting. This is gonna end. Now. I'm ending it."

"Ending what?"

"They took everything from me. Took everything I had and then they killed me. Now I'm here again and I know how to kill them right back," Erin said, meeting his eyes steadily.

"The Clan."

"Bingo. Bastards are going to pay for everything they did to me and all the other girls over the years."

"You don't know how-"

"Yes, I do. Neela knew everything about them. Now I know, because of you. Thanks for that, by the way."

"Erin, this isn't what was meant to happen. You're needed here."

"To protect Caitlin? What I'm doing will save her and hundreds of others. Tell me that's wrong."

"Revenge won't win this!"

"Do I look like I care?" she snapped back. "I know everything Neela did. Everything Jo'Nekra did. A decade of blood and death and screaming, because of me. Because of what they did to me. And I will not wait for them to do it to another innocent."

"You can't do this alone."

"I don't have anyone left."

"What about John?"

Erin paused. Those were the memories of Neela's that hurt her the most. How much her brother still loved her. Still mourned for her, when they hadn't seen each other for years even before she'd died. He'd helped her come back from the dead, she knew. She'd heard him yelling in her first moments back on this earth and waking up to learn that he wasn't there, that no one knew where he was, had felt like losing him all over again. Contacting him, working with him, hell, just seeing him again...

Then she shook her head. "He's got kids, Doyle. Sons with O'Neil blood and magic in their veins. The Clan would kill them in an instant if I get Johnny involved. And I won't do that to my brother. Besides," she said with a faint smile. "I don't play well with others."

"You're just a kid, Erin."

"That didn't stop them," she said. "Why should it stop me?" She swung the backpack over her shoulder and crossed to the door.

"Please, kid," Doyle said. "Just... please."

Erin shook her head, just once, and slipped out of the door.

xxx

Lilith held the last werewolf still and used her fangs to rip its throat open. The blood of a werewolf was beyond disgusting, even worse than pig's blood, but the noises the creature made as it bled to death were fairly amusing. Just to be thorough, Lilith pulled a silver blade from the corpse of another wolf and sliced the beast open from stomach to collar bone, revealing the organs below. As the werewolf twitched and whimpered, she reversed her grip on the blade and plunged it into the heart.

"Such an untidy dolly."

Rolling her eyes, Lilith turned to face Drusilla. "They are taken care of, ma'am."

"Party's not over yet, Miss Edith. Still waiting for the big finish."

Lilith gestured to a few vampires to take up defensive positions near the doors and windows. She did not like the sound of a 'big finish'. The quiet, bloody finish was more to her taste.

Drusilla tutted softly. "Bad dolly. Must be courteous to our guest. Her last party must be a special one."

The vampires traded glances, each clearly thinking, _do you have any idea what's she talking about, 'cause I really don't._

Any doubt they had in Drusilla's abilities vanished as the huge, solid steel door rocked with some huge force.

"Oh, crap," Lilith muttered. "What the hell is it now?"

The doors rocked again, most of the vampires were starting to back away. They were immortal, not suicidal. Lilith flinched slightly as the door snapped inwards, bent completely out of shape.

Empusa stepped in.

"Time's up, cutie."

xxx

Lorne surveyed Erin, his normal, cheerful demeanour in tatters. The backpack over her shoulder would've told him her plan even without the empathy, and the look in her eyes said there was no arguing with her. Not that he wouldn't try.

"You shouldn't go alone."

"Well, I am," she replied.

"Does Liam know what you're planning to do?"

"Not planning to do. Doing. And, no, he doesn't and no, I'm not going to tell him. Lorne, he never told me about Neela."

"What?" Lorne had made the connection the moment he'd read her at the airport, but he'd never thought that Erin knew nothing about Neela's time in LA or her relationships with Angel and the others.

"He was in love with her. At least, I think he was. Or Neela thought so." Erin paused, confused. "Anyway, you get the point. Telling him that I have her memories? That I know how she felt? Not going to happen."

"What will you tell Gunn?"

"Nothing. I'll be out of town before he realises." She caught the look Lorne was giving her. "Look, just tell him... I don't know. Think up something nice, tell him I said it."

"Good luck, Erin," Lorne said, hugging her.

She smiled and nodded, turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "That night, in the alley," she said quietly. "When you didn't turn away from her. It meant a lot to her."

"Thank you. I wish I could've helped her."

"You did. See you around, Lorne."

Leaving Caelum, Erin kept her head down and hurried along the street. Neela's memories pointed to a Clan holding in Romania, so she'd start there. She had a perfect fake passport under the name Nadine Woods, so flying into Romania wasn't out of the question. But then again her family had always avoided travelling in any way which could be easily traced.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the black car containing Angel and Gunn drive past.

xxx

Empusa wiped bloody hands on her shirt, but there was so much blood on the shirt that it made next to no difference. Giving up on improving her appearance, she sighed and knelt before the sheet of crystal propped against one wall. She didn't know exactly how it worked, just that she could be viewed through it, but not see anything herself. Her boss didn't want Empusa to know what she looked like in this dimension or whatever.

So she knelt there until the booming voice echoed from the crystal.

"Is it done?"

"The werewolves are all dead." No need to mention that the vampires had done that for her. "But several vampires escaped, including Drusilla."

"What? How could you let her escape? The Staff of Pandora must be destroyed before I can manifest!"

"It'll be done."

"And the girl? Has that been dealt with?"

"Yes."

"And you did not harm the boy?"

"Well, he's still alive. Does that count?"

"_You will not harm him. You will start the next phase._"

The voice reverberated through Empusa's bones, making her essence ache.

"_Is that clear?_"

Oh, yeah, the boss was _angry_.

Empusa managed a weak grin. "Crystal."

xxx

In the airport bathroom, Erin tried not to look at the mirror as she splashed water on her face. The emotions that had sprung up with Neela's memories had faded now, leaving her feeling tired and drained. But she wasn't getting cold feet or anything. Lorne and Doyle acted like wanting to annihilate the Clan was a sudden decision, whereas really she'd made it ten years ago, standing over her Uncle's body. And now she had the information, she had a destination, even a flipping plane ticket to get her there. Neela's memories also seem to include body-memories and Erin suspected that she could kick ass just like Neela used to. Actually, it would be best to check that out before walking into a Clan stronghold.

She cupped her hands under the tap, watching the water collect in her palms and letting it run out. Once, when she was still a kid in mind and body, a priest had told her that God would wash her sins away. That night it had started to rain, drenching her as she tried to keep up with Paul. And she had loved every second of it.

How old had she been? Five or six, no older, certainly. When little Erin O'Neil hadn't understood what was going on or why she had to fight with her Uncle and try to hurt him, why she had to fire a gun that scared her. When innocence was still there, innocence and blind faith. But faith in what, she had no idea.

Idly considering trying to scrub her brain out while she was here, Erin ducked her head. She always opened her eyes before chucking water in her face, a quirk would which probably give a psychiatrist a field day, but right now it was the best quirk in the world.

Erin leapt back from the basin, hands held out in front of her. There was blood on them, blood in the sink, blood running out of the tap.

_Oh, no. No, no, no!_

xxx

Gunn held the phone close to his ear, counting the rings. Finally, just as he was about to give up, someone picked up the other end. Someone who was clearly tired and most likely grouchy.

"What?"

"Liam?"

"Oh, I don't believe this," Liam muttered. "Is that the street rat? What the hell do you want?"

"It's Erin. She took off."

"What? What the hell did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything to her! Lorne said she told him she had some family business to take care of."

Liam started to swear.

"What is it?"

"Gunn, if you see Erin, do not let her leave LA, alright? This is a bad time for her to start some sort of crusade."

"Crusade against what?"

"Just do it! And tell Angel to keep his kids alive."

Gunn let the phone drop back into its cradle. That had been informative. He shifted position on the reception desk slightly, his leg protesting.

"Well, Liam knows squat," he said to Angel and Wesley.

"I'm sure Erin will be ok," Angel replied. "Lorne didn't seem too worried about her. It's probably just a little family drama or something."

"Yeah, you're probably right. It's just, I don't know. Something's bugging me about this whole thing, you know? Like we're missing something really important?"

"I think you lost me there."

Gunn shifted again as his leg started to ache. "Well, yeah, we did. Something tried to take you out of the game. While you're gone, situation in LA starts escalating, we don't really notice, because we're trying to find you. Pretty good distraction for us, plus no more resident Champion. My- My boys start taking out more vamps, something takes us out. All of those people going missing, people who maybe could've helped us. Feels like something big is starting. Something we don't want to see the end of."

"Another apocalypse?"

"You tell me. I've never been in an apocalypse."

"If this is the beginning of the end, I don't know who's doing it. The Master, the Mayor, even me once, there's always someone co-ordinating everything. The end of the world doesn't normally happen on its own."

"Well," Wesley said, pushing one book away and picking up another. "I don't think it is this time either. Caitlin did mention this Silverfang character. A werewolf with an alleged alliance with vampires? It's unprecedented. Whoever he was, he must have had a great deal of power."

"Or been backed by someone with a great deal of power."

"If it's the former, we might be ok, with Silverfang's recent demise," Wesley continued. "But if it's the latter, we still have a problem."

"There's our mystery woman," Angel offered. "A three-storey drop without a scratch doesn't exactly point to her being normal."

"Definitely not normal," Caitlin said from the hotel's front door, her voice little more than a croak. "Positively abnormal, even."

She had her arms around Connor, taking more of his weight than she could really deal with. Angel's mind had just processed, _what the hell happened to them? _before he was standing by Caitlin, Wesley next to him. Gun tried to take Connor from Caitlin's grip, but she wasn't letting go. Angel took her chin in his hand and made her look at him.

"It's okay, Cait."

Reluctantly, she let Gunn pull Connor away from her. He was still unconscious, barely _breathing_.

"Kid?" Gunn said, placing him on the sofa. "Kid, wake up!"

"I think she broke his arm," she whispered. "We've never been broken."

Angel steered her towards a chair. "What happened?"

"We were trying to find what killed Gunn's friends," Caitlin said. "And the woman, the weird one, she attacked us. Kicked Connor in the head, must have feet of iron though 'cause he's barely woken up since. And, uh, then she said she served the one who would bring our world to its knees." She wiped the back of her head across her mouth. "She said hell was coming to us."

Wesley stood up, staring out of the window. "I think it may have arrived."

The swarm of gnats billowed against the window.

xxx

"Liam Reilly."

"What the fuck is going on?" Erin hissed down the phone.

"Erin? Where are you?"

"I'm in LAX. My flight got cancelled due to a friggin' rain of _frogs _and there's blood coming out of the taps, not to mention the infestation of gnats which mysteriously disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. Tell me this isn't what I think it is!"

"Erin, find Angel, now. Tell him everything. I'm going with Mr Giles to Sunnydale. I'll find you."

"Is it... you know, that?"

"The signs have all aligned. It happened a few hours ago. Now get you ass over to that hotel and get the Fang Gang together."

Erin dropped the phone and ran.

xxx

Connor's mind, as it tended to do when he regained consciousness, ran through the standard wakeup check. Legs, checks, arms, aching but there, last thing I saw was-

_Oh, hell. _

He went from unconscious to on his feet in under two seconds, making Gunn jump.

"Whoa, kid, slow down," he said. "And sit down before you fall down."

Okay, Gunn meant hotel. Could be safer, but still safe, so Connor sat back down and tried to make the world stop spinning.

"Where's Cait?"

"She's here, she's fine," he hastened to reassure the boy. "Downstairs, talkin' to Wes. They're trying to figure out what's going on."

Connor nodded slowly. When the world didn't immediately splinter, he risked standing up again. That was better. Gunn, rolling his eyes, followed as Connor made his way downstairs.

"What's that noise?" he asked Gunn.

"Flies. Millions of them, all over LA. They're part of the 'what's going on?' moment."

"You mean there's more?"

"Frogs, gnats, slaughters, your attacker, the list goes on," Angel said from the lobby. "You feeling better?"

"I heal fast," Connor replied. "Thanks to you." But it was said with the faintest of smiles, which Angel returned.

Before he could test this uneasy truce, Angel heard someone pounding on the cellar door.

"It's me!" Erin yelled. "Let me in already."

He hurried to the door and yanked it open. "You always travel by sewer?"

"With weather like this, sure I do, Angel," she answered. "And, in case you haven't noticed, we have a very serious problem. I have information for you."

"Thought you were leaving town," Gunn said.

"Trip's been delayed, not cancelled," she replied, trying not to look at him. Neela's memories were worse here, more vivid and much more painful, in this place that had felt like home for her. "Can we get everyone together?"

It only took a few moments before Gunn, Wesley, Cordelia, Angel and his children had all assembled. Lorne was in Caelum, but no one knew where Fred was.

"Well, someone can let her copy their notes later," Erin said. "Wes, tell me you can see the pattern with our freaky occurrences. Which, now, also include dead cattle and boils."

He nodded. "The Ten Plagues of Egypt."

"Precisely. Assuming you all know your Bible, you can see the problem."

"Wait, isn't the last one the death of the firstborn?" Gunn asked, going pale.

"Yes. We have to stop this, or every first born male in LA will die." Erin's face and tone were completely serious. "Which includes you guys."

"The last time this happened, it was because God Himself got involved to try and free His people," Wesley said. "Are you saying we're dealing with a deity?"

"Not a deity, not exactly. More like a PTB. Old, powerful, beyond human. But not God god, you know?"

"Wait, the guys who supply my visions want to kill their Champion?" Cordelia said.

"Your visions are more likely supplied by a Power That Is, singular. And not all Powers want the same thing. Like your PTB and the Senior Partners. Really, most of them don't give a shit about us on this here mortal coil."

"Well, I don't know how we can fight something that big," Caitlin said. "Demons, fine, but a god?"

"We don't need to fight a god," Erin interrupted. "Remember Egypt? God acted through a chosen representative, Moses."

"You want us to kill Moses?" Gunn asked.

"Not literally. But the Big Bad must have a representative who is causing the plagues. Find them, solve the problem. Or kill the problem, whatever. But the representative has to be more than human, you know, have a little demon or maybe even deity in the mix."

"Oh, we found our attacker," Caitlin offered suddenly. "Name's Empusa, we think. Sucks the life out of people, daughter of Hecate, and talked a lot about working for someone who wants world destruction."

"So we have a target," Angel said. "Wes, can you knock up a locator spell?"

"I think so."

"Get on it. Cait, any weaknesses that you know of?"

"When we fought, I didn't spot any," Cait began. "But I think it's her feet."

"Huh?"

"When she kicked me in the ribs, the first time we fought, it felt like a tree had fallen on me or something. She kicked Connor in the head once and he was out for a couple of hours. The books make some reference to her feet being made of brass. Fred told me that brass is a good electrical conductor."

"So we need to, what, hook her up to the mains?" Cordy suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Connor said.

"Not that he's holding a grudge or anything," his sister added.

"When we've knocked her out of the game, what about her boss?"

"Well, Liam thinks, and I have to agree with him, that whatever it is we're dealing with, we can't deal with it yet. If something that powerful had manifested, we'd know about it by now. Or a mage would've picked up on it, someone would've noticed." Erin shrugged. "Killing Empusa is probably the easiest way to sever the link between this world and the Big Bad, which might stop all this. That's a fairly unlikely 'might' though."

"But what does it want?" Angel asked.

"Well, judging by all the portents, it's not good news for us," Wesley offered.

"Realistically, if this thing comes forth, and Liam suspects that is its goal, we're screwed," Erin said. "Powers are not like us. Whatever it wants, we'll be safer if it never gets it."

Angel nodded slowly. Four years of being the Power's personal whipping boy made him agree with Erin. "Right. Wes, get started on the spell. Everybody else, gear up."

Wesley looked up from a spell book. "The locator spell won't work on a demi-goddess, Angel, not in the time we have."

"How long?"

"I'd need about eighteen hours."

"Which we don't have." Angel frowned. "Okay, we do this the old fashioned way."

"Split and search?" Gunn said. "Pairs?"

"Seems the way to go. Erin, you in?"

"Looks like."

"I'll take that as a yes. Go with Gunn. Wes and Cordy, ask around. Someone this big has to be making ripples. And try to find something we can kill her with." Angel hesitated, eyes fixed on the twins.

They were standing next to each other again, but that was hardly news. Their default setting seemed to be as close to the other as possible. But Connor stood fractionally in front of his sister and met Angel's eyes evenly. He was protecting his sister, yes, but not from Angel. This time, it was from everything else.

"She keeps coming after us," Connor said, still looking at his father. "And she's beaten us before. Mind watching our backs?"

It was said so lightly, casually, as if Connor just wanted Angel to pass the salt or something. And Angel had been around people long enough to understand what Connor was doing. By keeping things casual, he was giving Angel an opportunity to refuse. How often, Angel wondered, had Holtz made the twins face enemies on their own, without even allowing them the thought of asking for help? But Connor _was _asking for help. Angel's help, to be precise. And that was quite good enough for Angel.

"If you think you can put up with me," he replied.

Connor was too controlled to allow relief to show on his face, but Angel could tell he was pleased. Turning to the others, the vampire added one last warning.

"And no heroics, people. You see her, you call for backup and _wait_ for backup."

"The next plague, which should be hitting in the next hour or so, will be really bad weather. Thunder, hail, the whole nine yards," Wesley said. "Stay under cover if you possibly can."

"What's hail?" Caitlin asked.

"Large chunks of ice, falling like rain," Erin explained. "Sting like hell, even the little ones. The bigger ones can break things, kill people."

"And there'll be an eclipse soon," Wesley added. "Right after the locusts. The eclipse in the ninth plague."

"So Empusa goes out before the sun."

"And we're already on the sixth plague. Let's move."

xxx


	30. Chapter 30

By unspoken agreement, the twins allowed Angel to take the lead as they travelled through LA's sewers. Although they were unlikely to find Empusa in the sewer, they couldn't search the streets until the plague of flies vanished, and Wesley had estimated that it was at least another half-hour until they could start expecting that to happen. But they were still planning to start their search in the alley where Empusa had last attacked the twins and so Angel led them through the tunnels until they were underneath the right street.

Caitlin sat on one of the ladder's rails whilst Angel and Connor leant against opposite walls. Pulling a whetstone from one pocket and a long knife from under her arm guard, the girl started to sharpen the blade.

"So," she said to her father and brother. "How'd you guys want to play this?"

"Connor?" Angel asked.

The boy shrugged. "I haven't faced something that we've fought multiple times before. She knows our style, but not yours, Angel, so hopefully you'll tip the scale this time."

"Well, it's my turn to be the visible target, so you'd better be right," Caitlin said. "If I die, I will be entirely cranky with you."

"Visible target?" Angel asked, his mouth dry.

"Bait," Connor translated. "She keeps coming after us, so we can lure her out easily enough."

"And you take turns at being bait?"

"Normally, but this last couple of months, I've mostly been doing it," Caitlin said. "I don't exactly have three-sixty vision anymore," she explained, tapping the scars around her bad eye.

"So when did you guys start being bait?"

Caitlin shrugged. "I guess it was a little bit after Connor realised how good at tracking he was."

"And how old were you then?"

"I don't know," Connor said. "Five, six. Something like that."

Angel badly wanted to hit something. "So it was Holtz's idea."

Caitlin rolled her good eye. "Chill. We're still alive, aren't we?"

"Oh, if I ever see that man again, we are going to have a serious talk."

"Yeah, 'cause that ended so well last time," Connor said, grinning.

"Boys, we've discussed this. No killing, maiming, attacking, beating or even _looking_ for Holtz." Caitlin slipped the blade back down her arm-guard. "He's gone, we're here, end of story."

"It doesn't make you angry? What he did to you?"

"You're angry enough for the three of us." Caitlin shrugged. "I never understood revenge. Which, ironic, considering that was the only reason he kept us alive."

Idly, Connor tugged at the leather sleeve that held the wrist blade in place. "We may be slow learners," he told Angel. "But eventually we catch on."

"I'm sorry." _For everything. For every single day you had to spend with that man. For every time he made you hurt. For every time you thought I didn't care._

The twins looked at him, Caitlin with her head tilted to one side and Connor standing tall. After a beat, Connor looked away, grinning.

"Cordy's right. You apologise way too much."

"Hey, guys?" Caitlin said, jerking a thumb at the ceiling. "Who wants to see if Wesley's estimate was right?"

xxx

At least the flies had gone, Erin thought as she and Gunn drove along at a snail's pace in the War Wagon, trying to see anything that would help them. The plague of boils had struck in the richer parts of LA, leaving the whole of AI alone, thankfully. Now she kept one eye on the street and the other on the sky. When the hail hit, they might be in trouble.

"Hold up," she said at last. "We've got trouble."

"Super-bitch?" Gunn asked, pulling the truck over.

"Vamps," Erin replied and snatched up a stake. "Lots of vamps."

Gunn pulled a weapon out of the back of the truck.

"Is that a flamethrower?"

"Yep. Let's go."

Vampires were the true parasites of the underworld. Aside from the whole need-other-people's-blood-to-survive thing, anytime any sort of disaster struck, you could bet that vampires would be there to suck up any stray drops of blood long before any help arrived. And if the Ten Plagues of Egypt didn't count as a disaster, Erin didn't know what did.

But a vampire was a vampire and she yanked the first one around and threw him towards Gunn, who let rip with a blast of flame.

When the next vamp came at Erin, she was amazed when her limbs started responding _without her telling them to._ It seemed her earlier theory about Neela's body memories had been correct. Not once in all her life had Erin fought like this. No hesitation, no thinking about it, just smooth punch after smooth punch with instinct leading the way.

And for the first time, Erin could see the appeal of this life that had been forced on her.

Gunn's flamethrower worked excellently to thin the vampires' numbers and soon there were only two left, one male and one female. From the way the male kept glancing to the female, Erin guessed she was in charge of him. Maybe even his Sire. Whatever the explanation, the bitch was going to die. Again. Erin leapt forward, dodging to the side as the woman actually threw the male vamp at her. So much for honour amongst vamps. But Gunn could deal with the male so Erin pressed forward, grabbing the vampire's arm and swinging a knee up to slam into the undead chest. Strictly speaking, a bloodsucker had no need to breathe, but the move still hurt and that was good enough.

She spun around, ramming the vamp's head into the nearest wall. Something clattered to the floor and Erin kicked it away, not knowing what it was and not wanting to find out. When she plunged a stake toward the vampire's chest, she was rewarded with a head butt that made her see stars.

Okay, so Erin wasn't perfect. She could feel a trickle of blood on her forehead and took a moment to wipe it away before it reached her eyes. Then, now really pissed off, she grabbed the vampire's long blonde hair and pulled, slamming an elbow into the side of her head. The vampire yelped, twisted, and gave Erin a choice between letting go or maybe getting a broken arm. Erin chose the former option and the vampire sprinted for Gunn.

Erin dropped, wrapping both arms around her head as Gunn blasted the vampire with a jet of fire.

"Just for my peace of mind," she said, when the screaming had stopped. "Where did you get a flamethrower?"

"Caitlin made it for me."

"Okay, that has to be the least reassuring answer I have ever heard to any question _ever._"

"Hey, what's that?" Gunn asked, gesturing to an object by the wall. It was a short pole, a sort of staff, he supposed, with jewels at one end and carvings along the length of wood. The carvings had to be magic of some sort, because if you looked at them too closely, they made your head spin.

Erin shrugged. "The female dropped it, didn't she?" She reached down to pick it up. "Ow! Bugger!"

"What?"

"The thing shocked me." Erin pulled off her jacket and used it to pick up the staff. "I think Wes would probably like to see this."

She dumped it in the truck, being careful not to touch it again. When she turned around again, Gunn had his phone pressed to his ear. He snapped it shut again.

"Angel found Empusa."

xxx

Drusilla looked at the pile of dust and pursed her lips. This was not going according to plan. Not at all. And that was making Drusilla tetchy enough to make Lilith downright twitchy. Her boss wasn't predictable at the best of times and an unpredictable, insane, psychic vampire was bad news even for immortals.

"The party's sure to be ruined," Drusilla whinged. "Everyone will be terribly disappointed."

Lilith really wished the older vampire came with the code or something. She was getting fed up of trying to interpret Drusilla's mental quirks.

"Well, at least we know who has it," she offered, looking after Gunn's truck, disappearing into the distance. "What is it, anyway?"

"It'll make all our problems this big." Drusilla giggled, holding a thumb and forefinger so they were just not touching. "Must put all the party tricks back in the box when we're done." She tapped the doll she was holding on the nose. "Naughty Pandora, letting all the gifts escape."

"What the... Holy crap. You had the Staff of Pandora?"

"Miss Edith!" This time it was Lilith who got rapped on the nose. "Mustn't spoil the surprise!"

As she drifted on, Lilith followed a few feet behind, working almost entirely on auto-pilot. Every mystic gold-digger worth her blood knew about the Staff of Pandora. Pandora's Box had contained all the evils of the world, but it was the Staff that had put them there in the first place. It harnessed the power of the Powers themselves to trap anything into a micro-universe the size of a marble. Pandora hadn't just opened the Box, she'd smashed the marbles as well and then the Staff had allegedly fallen between the cracks in the world, never to be seen again. Well, that bit was obviously complete crap.

The bloody thing was completely priceless! Although the legend said that only a god could wield it without becoming trapped themselves, there was always someone willing to disregard such warnings. If Lilith could get her hands on it, she could easily get enough to pay for a one-way teleport to a dimension that wasn't about to overrun by the end of the world with all the trimmings. Of course, taking the Staff would leave Drusilla high and dry.

And that suited Lilith just fine.

xxx

Angel had tracked Empusa to an old factory near the edge of town. With Angel and the twins keeping an eye on the exits to make sure the woman didn't escape and Cordelia on an urgent weapons run, Wesley was left to gather up the remaining members of Angel Investigations.

He jumped when his phone rang and quickly answered it. Cordelia had set his ring-tone to something that was truly impossible to ignore and it would be just his luck if someone heard it. "Hello?"

"Wesley, it's Liam. Are you somewhere safe?"

"For the moment, yes," he said, glancing around.

"Right, when was the last time Cordelia had a vision?"

"Uh, a few weeks ago. Why?"

"Because she was meant to have one yesterday, to warn you about the plagues. And one about Gunn's friends before that."

"How on earth do you know that?"

"Because my family's been sworn to your Power for five generations, Wes. Cordelia just gets visions, I have the guy yelling in my head all day."

Wesley opened his mouth to say _you must be joking _and reconsidered. "I take it he's not the Power that is trying to manifest?"

"Nope, he's the guy who's trying to stop it."

"But why would a Power want to manifest? I mean, surely it would be a bit of a demotion for them?"

"There are some things that you can only do on this plane of existence."

"Such as?"

"Look, you understand the concept of the balance, right? Between good and evil?"

"Demons exist so we have Champions and Slayers and so on?"

"More or less. That balance was established millennia ago between our Powers and the Senior Partners, and it's set in stone, you know? Neither group can tamper with it."

"So we have to cope on our own."

"Bingo. The Senior Partners use Wolfram and Hart to try and bring about the end of the world, our Powers use us to safeguard the world, and so on and so forth."

Wesley checked behind him – he had no desire to be snuck up on, thank you very much. "What does this have to do with our current situation?"

"Nemo, the Power I work for, has been manipulating tiny events for centuries to try and give us the advantage. There's an opportunity coming up in Sunnydale to really knock the balance in our favour. And as it is all our own work, no harm, no foul."

"Does the other Power want to stop him?"

"I don't know. But it doesn't want to help us, I know that much. Wesley, I have to go to Sunnydale and help with our window of opportunity, so you and your pet bloodsucker will have to deal with this on your own, you understand? The rogue Power is blocking my way to Nemo, so we're on our own."

"Is that why Cordy didn't have those visions?"

"As far as I can tell, yes. But for the Power to do something like that, it has to be pretty close to what's going on. I mean, geographically close, you know?"

"I thought it hadn't manifested yet."

"It hasn't, but I think it might be controlling someone, possessing them, to run things on earth."

"We've found a demi-goddess here in LA," Wesley offered. "Would that be it?"

"No. Any demi-goddess wouldn't be bound to this earth and whoever the Power is using as a vessel has to be bound to this earth. A human, or something born here."

"Any idea who?"

"None whatsoever. And there's no easy way of finding them that I know of."

"Very helpful, thank you."

"Here to serve, mate. Anything else I can do for you?"

"I met Nemo, didn't I? In those caves?"

"Remember that, do you?"

"Sort of. I thought I'd imagined it."

"No such luck, Wes. Yeah, that was Nemo. And yes, he's always like that."

"You really have him in your head?"

Liam sighed. "Never ask. Oh, and when all this is over, I may have a job offer for you."

"When will all this be over?"

"No idea." And with that, Liam hung up.

Wesley slipped the phone back into his pocket, sighing. As always, talking to Liam for any period of time made his head spin. Another Power, working against Angel Investigations with some unknown dark intention and a possible interloper amongst them? It was hardly what he had been hoping for. Not to mention the fact that apparently killing Empusa wouldn't stop the whole thing in its tracks. Mind you, that last revelation hadn't actually been that surprising. Since when were things ever that easy?

"You know, you make way too much noise."

The Englishman jumped, spun around and nearly lost his balance before realising that it was only Connor.

"Smooth." And Caitlin as well, of course.

"Are you two quite finished?" Wesley said, sounding as peeved as he felt.

"Um, yeah, I think so." Unlike Angel, Connor was not afraid to smirk. "The others are around the other side, by the way, waiting for you."

Wesley resisted the urge to do something stupid and waved the twins on with another sigh. When the three of them reached the side of the building, Connor held up a hand to stop them. Without speaking, he pointed up at the sun.

Half brilliant light, half total blackness.

They broke into a run.

xxx

Empusa hammered her fist on the sheet of crystal. "Vita," she called. "Vita!"

Finally, she got an answer. Unfortunately, it wasn't the one she'd been hoping for.

Directly behind her, the double doors to the street were kicked open. The doors slammed into the wall, bouncing slightly, to reveal three figures standing against the growing darkness.

"Oh. You again," Empusa said, decidedly unimpressed.

Angel, with Connor on his right and Caitlin to his left, raised his sword. "Me again," he agreed.

Connor had his left arm up across his chest, the wrist-blade in his customary place and Caitlin had two long knives in her hands.

"This is all I rate? A half breed and a pair of kids?"

From the walkway, which ran along three of the warehouse's walls at second-storey level, Wesley and Erin, positioned on opposite sides, both opened fire.

"Not quite," Caitlin said.

The firing ceased and Angel and his children pressed forward. Attacking from all three sides, they forced Empusa to stay on the defensive. She was so busy blocking blows she had no chance to return any and slowly but steadily, she had to move backwards.

A pair of perfectly timed kicks, one from each twin, hit Empusa square in the chest and sent her back another few steps.

"Gunn! Now!" Angel yelled, keeping well back this time.

Gunn, standing on the walkway right above Empusa, had already dropped a Molotov cocktail onto the woman's head.

The glass bottle shattered, covering Empusa in burning alcohol, but it had no effect whatsoever. She brushed the liquid off as it was nothing more than water and shook her head, then scooped up a handful and lobbed it back up at Gunn, who darted to the side with a yelp.

Erin was up and running along the walkway towards Gunn, using the shotgun she'd borrowed from Wesley to blast another handful of fire out of Empusa's hands. Grabbing Gunn, she pulled him back away from his vantage point, out of range.

Empusa spun and kicked out at one of the supports, rocking the walkway and sending Erin and Gunn flying. Gunn managed to grab a handhold, but Erin tripped and fell, barely holding onto her shotgun. She landed, stunned, right next to Empusa. Angel darted forward even as Empusa raised one foot, preparing to bring it down on Erin's head. The vampire launched himself at Empusa, sending them both barrelling over Erin into the far wall.

Caitlin hauled Erin up and shoved her towards a pile of crates. Erin dived behind them as Empusa twisted in Angel's hold and rammed him into the crystal sheet, which shattered, showering them both in sharp splinters.

Erin reloaded the shotgun, scrabbling through her pockets for the spare rounds. One slipped through her fingers as Connor spun around Empusa, slicing the woman across the back.

It was sheer luck that prevented Cordelia being spotted as she darted through the main doors and dropped down beside Erin. "How are they doing?"

"Bitch is fire-proof," Erin replied softly, peering over the crates. Angel was out for the count, but the twins were still pounding on Empusa with all they had. "Did you get them?"

Mutely, Cordelia held out the two tazers.

"What are they amped up to?"

"Only one shot each, but a hundred thousand volts in each."

Erin whistled softly. "That ought to do it."

"How do we get them to the twins?"

"Chuck 'em."

"What if Empusa catches them?"

Erin swore. "You're right. Okay-" She handed over the shotgun. "Get ready. I'll distract her."

Not waiting for whatever very sensible argument Cordelia would come up with, Erin leapt out from behind the crates.

"Yo, bitch!" she yelled.

Even the twins looked amazed. Empusa turned away from them and raised one perfect eyebrow.

"You talking to me?"

Erin sprinted across the warehouse, aiming for the relative safety of the opposite wall. Empusa picked up a long crystal shard and threw it.

It travelled end-over-end, sparkling in the dim lighting of the room, and came to rest in Erin's right thigh. She jerked and fell, trying to pull herself along using just her arms.

Wesley scrambled over the walkway's railing and dropped, rolling as he hit the ground. As Gunn threw another Molotov cocktail at Empusa, Cordelia lobbed the tazers at Connor who snatched them both out of the air. Wesley reached Erin and pulled her up, half carrying her out of the way.

Connor spun round, the tazer in his hands, and fired.

Empusa dodged to the side. "Nice try, but still not good enough, kid."

He tossed the now-useless tazer aside. Caitlin dived forward and grabbed Empusa's arm, twisting the woman around. Empusa snapped an arm around, grabbed Caitlin and launched the girl up, chucking her through the air.

Connor watched in horror as Caitlin flew through the air, crashing straight through the wall over the door. She landed in the back of Gunn's track with an almighty crash, her hand resting on the wooden staff Gunn had found earlier. Belatedly, he brought up the second tazer and fired. Nothing happened.

Empusa turned on the boy. "You know, she wanted you alive. Looks like she might be disappointed."

Gunn launched himself off the walkway, landing on Empusa's back. As she twisted, trying to reach around and yank him off, Connor fumbled with the second tazer. It had jammed somehow, but he couldn't figure out how.

He looked up again just in time to see Gunn flying towards him. The two males fell backwards, smacking into Angel, who had just managed to get back onto his feet.

Empusa brushed off her hands. "I expected better, somehow."

"Hate to disappoint," Caitlin said, standing by the doors with the staff in her hands. Holding it like a rifle, one end braced against her shoulder, she narrowed her eyes. "Demere orichalcum."

The roof was blown off the warehouse.

xxx

"I must admit," Holtz said, leaning his hands on the table. "I did not expect you of all people to ask me to return to this city."

"I did not _ask _you, Holtz. You assisted me last year, whether you meant to or not. You even got two children out of the bargain. Now you have a chance to...repay old debts."

Holtz bristled at the note of amusement in the woman's voice. With a worn hand, he rubbed the scar that stretched over one eye. "And the boy?"

"Connor and Caitlin must be left alive."

Behind Holtz, Justine fought the urge to shuffle or fidget. Coming here had been a huge mistake, hell, most of the last twenty years had been a huge mistake. But this one outweighed them all.

"Daniel," she murmured softly. "I don't like this. She's one of his."

"Au contraire. I belong to no one. Your pathetic mind couldn't even begin to comprehend me. Oh, and I have very good hearing." She smiled, a cruel harsh smile that didn't go with the friendly, open face. "Do we have a deal?"

"No. I did not come back to see those brats alive and well."

"Oh, Holtz," she replied, shaking her head. "I never said they had to be well."

A slow smile spread over the older man's face as he realised what she meant.

"I do not care how you do it," she continued. "But you must separate the children from Angel and his friends. All of them. Kill the adults if you must, but I would prefer them to be left alive for my victory. Go for the weakest first. Divide and conquer. But you must move quickly. Angel Investigations must be out of my way in a matter of days. Soon I will be ready."

"For what?" Holtz asked.

"Now, that would be telling. Go, little man, and wreak your vengeance."

Holtz actually favoured her with a slight bow before he left, although that was more due to the power of the woman than to any feelings of respect he might have for her. Justine slunk out after him, eyes firmly on the ground.

"I don't understand," she complained to Holtz as they moved away. "Since when was Winifred Burkle on _our _side?"


	31. Chapter 31

The warehouse burned.

Most of the roof was gone, blown clean off by the force of...whatever it was that Caitlin had done. Caitlin herself had been propelled back out of the warehouse, slamming into Gunn's truck.

The staff fell from stunned fingers, rolling away. It collided with a foot enclosed in a pointy shoe.

Lilith cautiously reached for it, biting back a yelp as it shocked her. She pulled her long sleeve down over her hand and grabbed the staff. Looking around once, seeing shapes moving in the flames, she turned and sprinted.

The Staff of Pandora would pay for her ticket out of this dimension. And she didn't intend to wait around and see how Drusilla's plan would survive without it.

xxx

Connor heaved Gunn to his feet and shoved him towards the door.

"Everybody out!" he yelled, pulling Angel up. "Move, move, move!"

Wesley helped Erin to the truck as Cordelia hurried after them and climbed into the truck next to Gunn, who started the engine. There was an unspoken agreement to get out of there as fast as humanly possible. Angel and Connor got Caitlin and Erin settled in the back of the truck with Wesley's help and then all three males climbed in after them. Angel banged on the roof of the truck and they were off.

Erin gritted her teeth and pulled the crystal shard out of her leg. "Didn't go too deep," she said.

"Good," Angel replied. "Now, what the hell just happened?"

"An excellent question," Erin said, looking back at the ruins of the warehouse. "I like that question. I might even ask it myself."

"Any chance of an excellent answer?" Angel asked.

"Well," Wesley said, holding up a small marble. "We have this."

"What is it?" Connor asked. "And did anyone else see Empusa disappear?"

"This _is_ Empusa. Or what's left of her, at any rate," Wesley said, passing the marble to Angel.

"That's impossible," Erin said. "I mean, isn't it?"

"Very old texts do speak of something that could do this, but it's meant to be nothing more than an urban legend."

"You mean... like a pair of vampires having twins?" Connor said quietly.

"More or less. Besides, Empusa is now the least of our problems." Wesley looked at the marble again. "No pun intended. I spoke to Liam."

"And that's a problem how?" Erin asked.

"He thinks one of the Powers That Be is trying to destroy us."

Angel thumped the cab of the truck again. "Gunn, drive faster," he ordered.

xxx

They assembled in the Hyperion, to take stock of injuries and snatch thirty seconds to rest and plan. Gunn had been right; something big was starting. Had already started. And they were smack in the middle of it.

Angel looked around at his friends and family. Caitlin was still unconscious, Connor sticking close, watching over his sister. The others spread out, some on the sofas, some standing.

"Okay, so what do we know?" he asked.

"Not a lot," Erin muttered.

"So what do we suspect?" Angel snapped.

Wesley shrugged. "Liam said that eons ago, the Senior Partners and the Powers That Be made a deal. Neither group would directly influence events on earth, but would work through chosen representatives to try and win control over everything. One of the Powers, called Nemo, is the one who gives Cordelia her visions and leaves us to fight in our own way. But another Power is..."

"Tired of waiting?" Cordelia offered.

"Maybe. Liam's not sure."

"Well, she did just try to wipe out most of AI, so I'd say that we don't want what she does," Gunn said. "The whole death of the firstborn thing is over, right?"

"You're still alive, aren't you?" Erin said. "What does Nemo say?"

"We're completely cut off. Liam hasn't heard anything, and Cordy won't be getting any more visions for a while," Wesley said.

"Can't say I'll be losing any sleep over that," Cordelia said.

"What about the Oracles?" Erin asked. "They're meant to be in LA, right?"

"They died three years ago," Angel said.

"Okay, I'm out of ideas."

Cordelia sat up. "Lorne. He's got a connection to the Powers, doesn't he? Nemo can't contact us, but maybe Lorne can still help."

"It's worth a try," Wesley said.

"Guys?" Connor asked. "End of the world aside for the moment, what about Cait? And what the hell happened to Empusa or whatever that thing was?"

"More to the point, what did Caitlin do to her?" Angel asked.

"Well, I didn't get that good a look, but I think she had the thing me and Erin found," Gunn said. "A magic stick, shocked Erin when she tried to pick it up."

"Looked old, felt old," Erin added. "And powerful."

"There's only one thing in all of history that can trap a living entity into a mystical marble," Wesley said. "The Staff of Pandora."

"Oh, come on, Wes," Angel said. "That's meant to just be a myth, nothing more."

"Once again, I remind you of the joys of living this life. Nothing is impossible. The Staff of Pandora is the only thing that could do this, this happened, therefore Caitlin used the Staff of Pandora."

Angel winced at Wesley's tone, but the Englishman had a point.

"And, assuming that's correct, we have a slight problem. Using something that powerful is very dangerous."

"She'll be ok, though?" Connor asked. "I mean, she'll wake up, right?"

"I think so. But she shouldn't. She shouldn't even be here anymore."

"The legends say anyone who taps the power of the gods would be trapped for all eternity," Angel agreed.

"Specifically, that any _human _would be trapped. I know this isn't the right time, but..."

"Look, we know we're not human, okay?" Connor snapped. "And you're right, this is not the right time."

"Con, cool it," Gunn said. "Wes works for a vamp, he ain't prejudiced or anything."

"Kids of two vamps?" Erin said. "I'd be more worried if you two were human. Angel, I'll go get Lorne."

"Wait, I'll come with you," the vampire replied. "Wes, look into the Staff of Pandora, try to find some other explanation. And find out why the sun's still gone."

"On it," Wesley said, heading back into the study. After a moment, he stuck his head back out again. "Oh, the sun? It'll be back in a day or so, like the remaining bugs and boils. The magic just needs time to drain away again."

"Right. Cordy, Gunn, head out, try and find Fred. She hasn't been in contact for over a day, we need to find her. Connor-"

"I'll stay here with Cait."

Angel nodded. He'd expected no less.

"Let's move," he said to Erin.

They were too far behind. They weren't ready, not for whatever was coming. And every day brought more questions and fewer answers.

But they were finding some way to function. And that would have to be enough.

xxx

Her vantage point wasn't even close to being perfect. For someone used to being able to see everything in a single glance, no where would be perfect.

But at least from here she had a good enough view of the Hyperion.

Could these guys get any more pathetic? Angel and his motley crew, they were only just starting to wake up and smell the Apocalypse. It was far too late for them to stop her. This plan had been brewing for millennia, and Angel's every step had been manipulated to bring them all to this point.

The loss of Empusa was irritating, but nothing more than that. And the way that Caitlin had dealt with the demi-goddess, harnessing the power of the Gods on what could have been nothing more than instinct...

Such instincts would be dangerous. The girl had huge potential, potential that must be unfulfilled, if it was to be manipulated successfully.

Well, she was only a child, after all. Alone, scared. It would be easy to gain control of her.

The woman jumped as a mobile phone rang somewhere on her person. A few moment's searching found the offending item in a pocket. She glanced at the caller ID, snorting softly, and casually tossed the phone to one side.

Winifred Burkle wasn't taking any calls.

xxx

"By the Powers," Erin whispered, staring in outright horror.

Angel was just as shocked. Someone – some_thing _– had torn Caelum apart. Not even when Holtz had blown Caritas up had Lorne's home and livelihood looked so bad.

"Lorne!" Angel yelled. "Lorne!"

"Can't you smell him or something?" Erin asked, starting to pick her way through the rubble, shoving tables and charred lumps aside.

Angel joined her in the search. "There's too much blood."

"Saturday evening. His busiest time, even without an eclipse driving everyone inside a sanctuary. How many, do you think?"

"Too many," Angel replied. "This happened recently."

"And hurriedly. This wasn't well planned," Erin added. "Check it out. Oil barrel."

Angel looked where she pointed. "Light it up and toss it in."

"Crude, but effective." She shrugged. "What about the sanctuary spells?"

"_Attacked? I thought you had double sanctorium spells?"_

"_I do. It's a thing with the door and the stairs and the world and the things. Never mind!"_

"_Apparently you can be outside and shove stuff in."_

"_I just said that!" _

"He's back," Angel said.

"Who?"

"Nasty hunter, spoiling the party."

Angel spun, reaching out for Erin and shoving her behind him. "Dru?" he asked softly.

"Drusilla?" Erin hissed. "Oh, bugger."

"Daddy," the thoroughly insane vampiress said, stepping daintily through the destruction. "Did you get your invitation?"

"To what, Dru?"

"To the end of the world." And she laughed delightedly.

xxx

"So you're okay?" Connor asked.

Caitlin didn't look around, focusing all her attention on the punch-bag. "I said… I'm… fine," she said between punches.

"And I don't believe you."

"Look," Caitlin said with one final kick. "I feel fine. Better than fine, really."

"Once again with the not-believing. Sorry."

"What do you want to say, Connor? That by some freakish twist of fate, I manage to get my hands on a mystical weapon that I shouldn't even have known how to use, let alone survive using? That I'm even less human than we thought?"

"What you are, I am, remember?" he said softly. "Human isn't the same as humane, Cait."

"I've never been particularly humane."

"You know what I mean."

And she did, better than anyone. Somewhere down the line, words are more or less become optional with the twins, but they kept talking to avoid freaking anyone out. And because sometimes you just needed to hear it said.

"Look, godly weapons aside, you're my sister," Connor continued. "I'd do anything for you."

"I know. But I really wish you didn't have to."

"Well, I do. So deal with it."

Caitlin, grinning, opened her mouth to say something flippant, but stopped. Both twins turned to face the stairs up to the hotel's lobby.

Moving without words or sound, the twins made their way to the steps and up them. Both were armed, had been armed ever since the Plagues had started and neither had felt like laying down arms just yet. Connor eased the door open and they both slipped out into the lobby.

Holtz stood there, arms casually tucked into his pockets.

"Children," he said, as polite as they'd ever known him. More polite, honestly.

"Where's Wes?" Connor demanded, moving in front of Caitlin, partly to protect his sister and partly to stop her lunging at Holtz.

"He's alive." Holtz' tone made it very clear that that could change at a moment's notice. "He's enjoying my hospitality, along with the other two traitors and the demon-spawn."

"Cordy and Gunn," Caitlin murmured.

"And Lorne," Connor replied. "Okay, Holtz, what do you want? Another scar? Or maybe you'd like to try another round with my sister?"

"Yes, dear Caitlin." Holtz even managed a polite smile. "You know, it would've been better had I beaten you to death last year."

"Not for you," Connor snapped.

"Surely Angel has explained to you the concept of sacrificing the one for the good of the many? I believe he himself once spent a century in a hell dimension to save the world."

"Where are our friends?" the boy demanded.

"If you do not hand her over or kill her yourself, it will not matter where they are. She has evil growing inside her, she-"

The knife shot past his head, just nicking one ear.

"That was a warning shot," Connor said, voice low and controlled. "The next one goes through your neck."

Holtz bowed slightly. "As you insist. But remember what I taught you, boy. The devil may show itself in all manner of guises."

He moved quickly after his last parting shot and the knife that Connor threw stuck in the doorframe rather than the old man's head.

The twins turned and ran for the back door. They needed Angel, now.

xxx

"Dru, what do you know?" Angel asked, being careful to keep his voice calm and casual. Getting information from Drusilla was harder than blood from a stone – and don't think Angelus hadn't tried that once or twice.

"Party's all been ruined. Bad Miss Edith stole the big surprise."

"The Staff of Pandora?"

"Little Pandy's ever so upset," Drusilla confirmed with a sharp nod of her head, hugging a doll to her chest.

"Does that mean yes?" Erin asked from behind Angel.

He reached back and gave her a gentle push. _Get out of here. _

Erin took the hint and quietly withdrew, even as Angel spoke louder to distract Drusilla.

"Where did you find it?"

"It was a gift. Meant to tidy up the bad lady."

"Bad lady?"

Drusilla wandered closer. "She's going to rule the world."

"The rogue Power?"

"Playing by her own rules. Most inconsiderate." She leant in, whispered softly. "She wants us all to fall."

"I'm not one of you anymore, Dru."

"Doesn't matter, Daddy. She hates us all. Everything that walks on the earth or crawls beneath. She'd rather tip the board over than let another win." Drusilla rested on hand on Angel's chest. "She's closer than you think. Right in here."

"What does she want?"

"The end of all things, Daddy. But you have another problem right now."

"And what's that?"

She smiled, spun. "Nasty hunter, hunting the Choosers."

"Choosers? Choosing what?"

Drusilla held out one hand, fingers spread, and folded the digits down one by one. Five, four, three... "They chose to fight. Not to die." Two, one. "He's got the whole set."

Even from a few blocks away, Angel could hear someone screaming. Someone who sounded a hell of a lot like Erin. When the scream was abruptly cut off, Angel gave up on getting to her in time and turned back to Drusilla.

"Where's he taking them?"

But she was gone.

xxx

Just a quick thanks to all for being so patient. Next chapter will hopefully be up on the 23rd or 24th. Reviews are loved!


	32. Chapter 32

"Kinda weird, isn't it?" Caitlin said, three blocks from the hotel.

Connor spared her a glance, but they both maintained their steady pace. At least it was easy for them to track Angel's scent.

"What is?" he asked finally.

"You've spent all these years trying to protect me. Now I might be the thing you need to be protected from."

Connor skidded to a halt. "What the hell, sis?"

"You know I'm right."

"No." He turned away. "No."

"Think about it! Holtz went after me last year. And Empusa told me that you were not her target. Hell, even in Quor'toth, the demons went after me more than you!" She grabbed his shoulder and made him turn around.

"So? That doesn't mean you're the Harbinger of Doom or whatever! If the demons want you dead, that's a good enough reason to keep you alive."

"But even the vampires are fighting this Power, Connor."

"So you can fight it as well! Damn it, Caitlin, don't you dare start believing Holtz again!"

"What if he was right, Con?"

"About what? So you're not human, who gives a damn? Sure as hell not me. What you are, I am. Now we find our dad, and we stop whatever is going on, and that is all, do you understand me?"

He started running again, not bothering to check if she was following. She was, he knew. She always was.

xxx

It wasn't a very big room, especially not when five adults were all crammed in there together.

"Much as I love you guys," Cordy said, trying unsuccessfully to stretch the cramps out of her legs. "But couldn't we at least have separate cells?"

"This ain't a cell, Cordy, it's a broom cupboard," Gunn said. "And get your skinny legs out of my personal space."

"That would hold a lot more weight if Erin wasn't half in your lap."

"Well, the floor's occupied," Erin retorted, keeping her eyes shut. A heavy blow to the head, courtesy of Holtz, had left her with a concession, complete with nausea and dizziness.

"And the mite looks greener than me," Lorne added. "Now, can we get back to the fact that they _blew up my club?"_

"My condolences," Wesley said. "I assume it was Holtz again?"

"What has the man got against your cocktail menu?"

Lorne shrugged. "Beats me. Why are we here again?"

"It's called 'kidnapping'. And I'm fairly sure a guy like Holtz doesn't need a reason," Cordelia replied.

"So we just hang tight and wait for Angel and his hellspawn to bust us out," Gunn said. "The dark avenger is coming, right?"

"Well, I was snatched from right out from under his nose. That should irritate him enough to come find us," Erin said.

"Great, so now we're relying on his misplaced sense of heroism?"

"Or we could rely on our friend," Wesley said softly.

xxx

Tracking Erin's scent had been way too easy for Angel's liking. Not that he thought Holtz had anything to do with that; it was just the girl had been so terrified Angel could've followed the fear through a meat-packing plant without any trouble.

Erin – and most likely the rest of the gang – had been taken to some abandoned building, one of dozens that had been left by people fleeing LA as the vampires moved in. Angel stood on a nearby rooftop, trying and failing to spot any signs of his friends or the people who had taken them.

Oh, Angel had known that leaving that man alive would cause problems, not that he hadn't tried his hardest to kill the bastard.

"So," Connor said, dropping down next to Angel. "What's my own personal antichrist up to this time around?"

"You know he's back in town?"

"Turned up at the hotel, took Wes and chipped away at Cait's self-worth. How'd you find out?"

"Got a tip from an old friend. He's got the others as well. Where's Caitlin?"

"Right here," she said, from his other side. "We got a plan?"

"Not yet. Working on it."

"Why'd he take the others? It's not his style," Connor said.

"Divide and conquer," Caitlin replied. "Cutting us off from our resources."

"Why?" Angel asked.

She shrugged. "Last year it was me and Con he split up. Now it's us from our family." Caitlin idly scratched the scarred skin around her bad eye. "Either way, I'm pissed. You guys find the others. I'm going to cause one hell of a distraction."

Connor grabbed her arm. "I don't like where your head's at."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill the man. But you both already had your shot at him. Isn't it my turn now?"

"You really don't want revenge," Angel said.

"Maybe a little. But, hey, getting our friends back and screwing up whatever dastardly scheme he's working on this time, that'll help."

Connor nodded slowly. "Be safe."

"You too. Both of you."

And with a grin that made Connor smirk, Caitlin turned and stepped off the building.

"I hate it when she does that," Angel said softly.

"You do that. So do I."

"Must run in the family. What do you think, that door to the right?"

"I think Cait's going that way. There," he pointed. "Window."

"Let's go."

xxx

Causing a distraction wasn't the same as being reckless or getting yourself killed, so Caitlin sneaked into the warehouse through a back door.

She took a moment to sort through the scents assaulting her nose. Most of them were from humans she didn't know, the previous inhabitants of the building, she supposed, but she could clearly smell the individual scents of her friends, and of Holtz and Justine.

Caitlin paused, head tilted to one side. There was another scent, one that she didn't know but felt like she should. She hated unknown factors; they always came back to bite her in the ass.

But there were three paths she could chose from. One carried the scents of her friends and Justine, the second the unknown scent and the final one would lead to Holtz. Angel and Connor could easily deal with Justine and get the others out. The unknown factor, well, she'd cope with that when she had to. She chose the third path.

This time, Caitlin was going to fight back.

xxx

Justine was edgy.

Sixteen years in a hell dimension gave you more than enough experience to know exactly when you were in over your head. The year before, she'd helped Holtz to attempt to kill Caitlin out of mindless obedience. That same obedience had made her stay with him once Connor had turned against them, made her travel America with him and, finally, return to LA. All for a quest that had nothing to do with her, for a family that had died hundreds of years before she was even born and against a vampire that had never hurt her or her people.

And those same sixteen years in hell had attuned her so completely to demons that her vamp-senses were permanently working on overdrive. She could sense Angel approaching. That meant Connor and Caitlin would be somewhere nearby.

Those kids... Justine wasn't the least bit maternal, but she felt sorry for them. Who couldn't? Lied to and hit and hurt until it was a wonder they even knew the difference between good and evil.

But they knew it better than she did.

Justine shifted uncomfortably on her chair. She was sitting outside the room holding Holtz's prisoners, Angel's friends, and she hated herself. It was that simple.

She couldn't fight Holtz, she'd proved that last year when she'd just watched him try to beat Caitlin to death. But she couldn't help him either.

The key to the cell door was in her pocket, and Justine pulled it out and slid it into the lock. She wasn't strong enough to turn it though, but she could leave it there for Angel or the twins. She stood and walked silently down the corridor. She'd followed Holtz willingly into hell, but she couldn't do it anymore. Not even for the man who she loved and feared in more or less equal amounts.

At the end of the corridor, she glanced back to see Connor standing at the other end. For a moment, their eyes locked, then Connor looked away. Justine knew he saw the key waiting in the lock, and when he met her eyes again, there was the faintest trace of a smirk on his lips. He nodded once, acceptance and forgiveness and permission all in one tiny action.

It was more than she had hoped for. Justine turned and fled.

xxx

Holtz paced in the main room of the building. He'd done his part in snatching the vampire's accomplices, but now he was apparently forbidden to go any further! Didn't she understand that they had to move quickly to beat Angelus and his unnatural children? Didn't she-

He broke off his musing as the door behind thudded shut. "Justine, I said-"

Caitlin stood there, idly spinning one long knife around her hand.

"Caitlin," Holtz said. "Come for redemption?"

"I do want to redeem myself," she said softly. "But not the way you mean." She switched her grip on her knife, going from casual to deadly. "Arm yourself."

Slowly, he raised his hand. He was still wearing the leather gauntlet covered in shards and spikes that had robbed Caitlin of sight in one eye the year before. The glove had been made by Caitlin in Quor'toth and she had once considered it her greatest accomplishment.

She hated the damn thing.

They began to circle each other.

"You know how ridiculous this is, right?" Caitlin said. "I took down a demi-goddess a few hours ago. You're old, Holtz. Old and weak."

He attacked, swinging with the deadly glove. Caitlin blocked the blow without hesitation and spun round to slam her other elbow into Holtz's side.

"And slow," Caitlin added.

Holtz roared in fury and attacked once more.

She could kill him in an instant. They both knew that. But this wasn't about killing Holtz. Part of her embraced the idea, welcomed it, but another part shrank from it. Shrank from the way Connor would react to such an act. Caitlin was fighting two battles, one with Holtz and one with herself and the former was nothing compared to the latter.

Punch, duck, spin, block, duck, kick...

Connor had just taken Holtz's sight, paid him back perfectly, he knew the right thing to do. She trusted his judgement and he had let the old man live.

Caitlin grabbed Holtz's wrist as he tried to punch her again and _twisted, _a single hard action that shattered most of the bones. Holtz howled in pain and Caitlin ripped the glove from his hand, sending it flying across the room.

Drop, kick, get back up, block, kick, punch, punch, _punch... _

And finally Holtz was kneeling before her, too weak and battered to stand despite his pride, and Caitlin raised the knife for the killing blow.

"Why?" she asked, torn between her revenge and her soul. For all her pretty words to Angel, revenge was all Caitlin knew. It was why she had been kept alive by Holtz, after all. But she knew what revenge did to you. The ultimate proof was right in front of her. "Why did you do it?"

And even though she had no idea what she was talking about, what 'it' was, as there were just too many terrible moments to choose from, it didn't matter. Whatever she had meant, his answer would have been the same:

"Because you deserved it."

Caitlin's arm began to shake with the tension of keeping the knife perfectly still. Hell, her whole body was shaking.

She knew when Connor entered the room, taking in the situation with a single glance, and walked towards her. The rest of the gang were massed in the doorway, stopped by Connor's gesture to _stay put, I'll handle this. _ He stopped several feet away.

"You see?" Holtz spat at him. "You see what she is?"

"Yeah," Connor replied. "She's my sister."

Caitlin looked at him, startled, and Connor shrugged. There wasn't really anything else to say, after all. Finally, after a long moment and with her gaze still fixed on her brother, Caitlin lowered the knife and instead cracked Holtz around the side of the head, knocking him out. Non lethal takedown.

"Oh, no. That won't do at all."

As one, the gang moved forward in pure amazement, all gaping at the speaker.

"Fred?" Wesley said finally. His confusion was understandable. Although the speaker looked and sounded like Winifred Burkle, anyone who actually knew her would have noticed how wrong she seemed.

"Not quite," she replied with a twisted smile. "Now-" She clapped her hands once, and everyone except Caitlin and Holtz was flung against the walls and pinned there by some invisible force. "That's better."

"Kids, her aura's all wrong," Lorne said, concentrating. "I've never felt one like that before."

"What have you done to Fred?" Angel demanded, struggling against the whatever it was holding him in place.

"Oh, she's in here, somewhere. I'm just borrowing this body until I create one that can fully accommodate my power."

"You're the Power," Cordelia said. "The one Empusa worked for."

"And I thought I was supposed to be the smart one," 'Fred' replied. "My name is Vita."

"Nemo's enemy," Wesley said.

"Nemo is a pathetic half-wit, believing that his equally pathetic Champions can actually win this war."

"We're doing pretty good so far," Gunn retorted. "Kicked your minion all the way back to hell, didn't we?"

"Do you always take credit for others' work?" Vita said. "Caitlin got rid of Empusa, didn't you, my dear?" She reached out to touch Caitlin's cheek, but the girl flinched away. "You didn't kill her, though. Just... removed her from your path. The perfect solution."

"What?" Caitlin said.

"I know your heart," Vita said softly. "I created you, my sweet child. Do you want to know why you never fought back against Holtz? Why you allowed him to ruin you?" She leant closer. "Because you are like me. You do not wish for victory or defeat. Just ending. Completion."

Caitlin stepped back, shaking her head. "I fight evil, just like the others."

"But you do not believe in what you do! You know how futile such a fight is, how worthless. There is a better way to deal with the problems you face."

"Like what? Sitting on my ass, letting everyone get killed?"

"No. The war between Good and Evil has been running for millennia and Nemo's champions are no closer to victory now than they were at the beginning. But I can end the war. No more good, no more evil. Just peace. Peace and safety and prosperity."

"Bullshit!" Erin yelled. "How would a world without good work?"

"No more kindness or laughter or love," Wesley added.

"No more pain or hatred or abuse either."

"But those things can be fought," Angel said. "Apathy can't be!"

"If you can really stop all that," Caitlin said, "Why haven't you? You've been in Fred's body for months, right?"

"True," Vita said. "But by assuming human form, I limited my powers. Until my new body is created, I can only accomplish mere parlour tricks."

"So why haven't you created it already?" Gunn asked.

"I need some very special materials to create the appropriate vessel for myself." Vita turned her gaze back to Caitlin. "Materials you contain."

"You what?"

"Empusa kissed you, correct? When she did so, she transferred the life force of over two dozens different lifeforms into you and then... well, biology took its course."

"My daughter is _pregnant_?" Angel said.

"Oh, boy," Gunn muttered.

"The child growing inside you can save the world, Caitlin," Vita continued, ignoring the interruption. "All you have to do is let me have it."

Caitlin rested one hand on her abdomen, biting her lip in thought. Angel opened his mouth, but Vita waved a hand lazily and his jaw snapped shut again. The other members of Angel Investigations were similarly gagged.

But Connor had never needed words to communicate with his sister. He knew what Vita had said about Caitlin was true; his sister did long to stop fighting. What Vita did not understand, however, was that while Caitlin did not believe she could make a difference, Connor did. And that was more than enough for Caitlin.

_Be what you can be, not what they want you to be. _Old words, repeated over and over in an attempt to break free from the madness of Holtz. But just as true now as they had been ten years ago, if not more so.

The flash of understanding that passed between them was as pure and coherent as the thoughts of one individual. Almost unnoticeably, Caitlin nodded.

"Well?" Vita demanded, impatience entering her tone. "Give me the child."

"No."

"What?"

"No," Caitlin repeated. "I won't give you the child."

"_Give it to me!_"

The girl shook her head. "That doesn't work on me, Vita. You may have made me, but you can't control me!"

"I don't need to control you when I can take the child by force!"

Vita dived forward but Caitlin ducked under her arm and spun around, planting a kick in the Power's back. Caitlin danced around, landing a punch here, a kick there, never letting Vita touch her. Vita might be a Power, but as she herself had admitted, she only had parlour tricks at her disposal. Parlour tricks which could not affect the child she had created. Fred was not a fighter and she could never have fought Caitlin with any degree of success, and in Fred's body, Vita was having similar problems.

The fight was even shorter than the one with Holtz, mainly because Caitlin didn't have to fight herself this time. Every part of her was in agreement: protect her child.

She grabbed Vita and threw the Power to the ground, pinning her down and holding her trusty knife against her throat.

Vita glared up at her. "Are you really going to slit Freddikins' throat?"

Caitlin only hesitated for a split second, but that was enough. Vita lunged upwards, plunging her hand into Caitlin's stomach.

The knife dropped from a hand shaking in agony.

Connor screamed at the same time as his sister, feeling only a fraction of her pain and still finding it beyond unbearable.

In numb shock, Caitlin looked down at the bloody arm entering her stomach, then up into Vita's cruel face. This wasn't happening, this couldn't be. She wasn't...

Vita ripped her arm back out, a small ball of gleaming light dancing on her red-stained palm. "Thanks, kid," she said as Caitlin fell to her knees, blood streaming down her legs and splattering on the floor.

Caitlin toppled over backwards, lying awkwardly in a growing pool of her own blood with her legs bent under her, but the discomfort was lost amongst the pain and a steady silent mantra of _sorry, Con, sorry, all I can be, sorry, not enough, hurts, sorry, Connor, sorry, hurts, Connor, Connor, Connor, __**Connor**_

There were tears in her eyes, but for once Caitlin didn't try to blink them away as she slowly turned her head to be able to see her twin. The tears blurred her vision, or maybe that was the blood loss, but she knew she was looking at him.

As her vision began to grey over completely, she could hear Connor still screaming.


	33. Chapter 33 & Epilogue

Caitlin reopened her eyes. She didn't hurt, wasn't bleeding and had absolutely no idea where the hell she was.

"Hey!" she yelled, her voice echoing around her in the empty space. "Anyone here?"

"Hello, Caitlin."

She turned to face a rather ordinary looking man, tall and fit with a scruffy beard and a nice smile.

"Nemo," she said, and then had no idea where the knowledge had come from. "Where am I?"

"Where do you think you are?"

"Well, I'm dead, right?"

"Not quite. Almost. Close enough for us to be able to talk," Nemo said.

"Talk about what? Vita's won. She'll end the war, destroy good and evil."

"We'll come to that." Nemo rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "Do you know what you are?"

"Child of two vampires."

"Yes, but there's more to it than that. About two years ago, Angel won a life in an attempt to save Darla, your mother. But Darla couldn't use it. She was turned into a vampire again, and then the life was given to Angel in the form of a child."

"Hang on," Caitlin said, frowning. "You mean two. Two children."

"That's the problem, isn't it? You see, Caitlin, the whole child of two vampires things is unprecedented. More than one powerful being wanted to use that life in part of some ineffable plan. I was one of them. Vita was another. We both acted at the same moment, creating two entities that shared a single soul."

"Me and Connor."

"You and Connor," Nemo agreed. "Vita wanted to use you to create a vessel which could support the, well, power of a Power."

"What did you want Connor for?"

"Oh, to rally an army of Slayers and walk into hell. Long story," he added, seeing the look on Caitlin's face. "The point is, it doesn't matter what I wanted for your brother. I can't influence him, not like you can. Like you have."

"You can control what you create?"

"To a certain level. The weaker willed a creature is, the easier it is to control. Your upbringing was designed to make you easy to manipulate. "

Caitlin backed away. "You let us Holtz take us? Just so you could control us?"

"You have to understand, Caitlin, that this plan is far older than you, far older than even Angel or Darla. Holtz taking Angel's child was unavoidable; it was necessary."

"You left him in darkness! Let him be raised by a monster, just for your pathetic ineffable plan!"

Nemo paused. "Just Connor?" he said finally. "What about you? You went to hell as well."

"Yeah, well, my guardian Power just tore my unborn child out of my body and let me die, so somehow I doubt I would ever have had a halfway decent childhood."

"Point," Nemo admitted ruefully. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? You spend too long like this, you don't see people as people anymore. Just chess pieces. But that's not why we're talking. Vita's plan is to stop the War between Good and Evil, a war which I believe your father and my other Champions can win, by the way. She doesn't, and she'd rather destroy all good and evil than outright lose."

"Yeah, I know. Tried to stop her and all, and look where it got me."

"But if you could keep fighting, would you?"

"Would it do any good?"

"Did defying Holtz do any good?"

"Wouldn't know. Connor was always better at that than me."

"Caitlin, is it worth saving someone from a vampire?"

"Sure it is."

"Even though five others will die on any night from vampire attacks?"

"No wonder Cordy calls you the Powers That Be. You don't do anything else but be, do you?"

"What do I think I should do?"

"Get off your omnipotent ass and try fighting evil yourself!"

"There are rules."

Caitlin propped her hands on her hips. "In the words of my Uncle Gunn, fuck the rules."

Nemo grinned. "You know, I think I will."

xxx

Vita murmured softly to herself, eyes fixed on the glowing ball of energy she had torn from Caitlin as she began the process of creating her new body. On the other side of the room was Angel Investigations, pinned against the wall. And between Vita and the gang was Caitlin, eyes closed and covered in her own blood.

Connor twisted and kicked, trying to fight something that wasn't really there in his attempts to get free. "Caitlin!" he screamed. "Cait! Answer me, damn it!"

Vita glanced up. "Hush, boy. I need to concentrate."

"Really?" Erin asked, voice shaking somewhat. "I'm sorry to hear that." She started belting out _Land of Hope and Glory, _Lorne joining in almost instantly. The moment the first song finished, Lorne started another.

"Be quiet!"

Cordelia started yelling out hair-care tips, Gunn loudly debated cross-bows versus hand guns with regard to demonic eradication, Lorne made his way through most of the Broadway top hits, until the room was filled with the whole gang's chattering voices. Under the cover of the others' voices, Wesley began reciting a counter spell in an attempt to stop however Vita was holding them all in place.

Connor couldn't take his eyes off his motionless sister. "Wes?" he murmured softly, just loud enough for the Englishman to hear. "Get me free."

"Connor," Angel started in the same soft tone. "Fred's still in there somewhere."

"If killing Fred's the only way to kill Vita, I have to do it," Connor replied. "Isn't that part of it? Sacrifice? Giving up something you love for the greater good?"

"You shouldn't have to do it."

"We shouldn't have had to do a lot of things," Connor said flatly, and it was clear who the 'we' referred to.

There was sweat beading on Wesley's forehead. "Can't do it. She's too powerful."

"She's just another demon, Wes, so do it!" Connor ordered.

"And when's she dead, what then? It's not going to bring Caitlin back," Wesley said.

"No, it's not," Vita said loudly, turning the face the gang. Behind her, the ball of light spun and changed colour, growing in size and shrinking again over and over.

Cordelia, Gunn Lorne and Erin fell silent.

"Connor, you have to understand that your sister has served her purpose."

"You killed her."

"All she had to do was give me the child and she would've been at the height of the new order."

"Odd. You neglected to mention that amidst all the threats," Angel spat.

"Come now, let's be realistic here. What was she? A scared kid, good at making things, but not very bright. Not very brave, or nice, or useful. No Saint in training, no potential Champion. Just a little girl made to end the world."

Vita turned back to view her slowly-growing new body. The look of the thing was important, after all. Ugly people never got to rule the world. At least, not for very long.

"She was my _sister_," Connor said.

"Actually, she wasn't, not really. You see, I made her out of a little bit of me, and you were made out of a little bit of someone else. Angel had nothing to do with neither of you, and Darla was just a surrogate. Caitlin was no more your sister than I was your mother."

Connor swallowed hard, feeling tears pricking at his eyes. Not because Caitlin wasn't his sister, she _was _his sister, was and always would be. "Family doesn't have to mean blood," he said finally.

"This man would tell you differently," Vita said, gesturing at the still-unconscious Holtz.

Connor started; he'd forgotten about his abusive pseudo-father. "Yeah, well, he's crazy."

"You were always his favourite, you know. He always thought you could be counted on. But you want to know the real reason he hated Caitlin so much?"

"I know it already," Connor said. "She's looks like Sarah Holtz, doesn't she?" he asked, more to Angel than to anyone else.

Angel nodded slowly. If Caitlin had still been with him when she was that age, he'd have spotted it a lot sooner. But he could see Sarah Holtz in his daughter – and damn it, she was his daughter no matter what some stuck up Power might say – the same way you could see high-school Cordelia in the confident young woman she had become.

"One of my better ideas," Vita said, smiling. "Nothing like taunting a man with his dead children to get him to lose control." She hauled Holtz up. "Wake up, Holtz."

She must be controlling him to some degree, Connor realised, because saying _Wake up_ didn't rouse someone from unconsciousness. Saying _Wake up, _slapping them and dunking them in cold water, sure, but not just the words.

But whatever the reason, Holtz still opened his eyes and stood firmly on his own feet, wiping a trickle of blood off his forehead.

"You did well, for a human," Vita said. "I did promise you that you could have your revenge. There's Angel." She gestured vaguely. "I'm sure a man like you has a wooden stake somewhere. This is your last chance, Holtz, do you understand me? Once my body's ready," and she nodded to the ball of light, bigger now, almost as big as a toddler, "There will be no more hate, no more revenge."

Holtz nodded and produced the stake from a pocket.

"The last act in the War will be the death of a Champion," Vita said thoughtfully. "I like that."

And then Holtz was moving closer to Angel and they were all fighting now, Cordelia screaming something and Angel trying to kick out, but all Connor could think about was his sister.

"_Con, is badness in the blood?" a nine year old Caitlin had asked him._

"'_Course not," he had replied, cockily certain. "Badness is a choice."_

"_But how do you know which is the right choice?"_

"'_Cause you don't need to think about it. You just do it."_

As the stake began its downward sweep, aiming right for Angel's unbeating heart, Connor's arm shot out and grabbed it. _Just do it. _For a moment, he let Holtz press against his strength before spinning the man around and shoving him away. _Just do it! _

It was so easy to move. All Connor had to do was want it bad enough. Be desperate enough. He pushed himself away from the wall, noticing Angel's attempts to grab him out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, well, well," Vita said. "Kid's got some tricks up his sleeves after all."

Connor snatched up a knife from beside Caitlin's body and threw it. He wasn't as good with these knives as Cait was, she made them and they'd do whatever she wanted them to, but there was enough of her in him to make the sharp blade fly over and over through the air, straight for the ball of energy that was getting bigger by the minute-

Vita grabbed Holtz and threw the man forward.

The knife thudded into his neck, right up to the hilt. Shocked, Holtz reached up to touch the knife, then tore it out of his neck. Blood sprayed from the wound, splattering on Connor's face and across the floor.

Behind him, Connor could hear someone throwing up. Probably Erin.

"That's quite enough of that," Vita said and snapped her fingers.

Five pairs of feet hit the floor as she released the others.

"I was hoping to integrate you into my new world, but I see that'll never work," Vita said. "You don't want to be part of salvation? Fine. You can all go to hell."

The gang drew together, battle formation, the same way they always did.

Except for Connor, surrounded by death and covered in blood.

"You," Vita said, pointing at Lorne. "Back to Pylea with you."

There are no showy special effects, Lorne was just _gone_.

"For the Englishman, how about..." Vita concentrated on Wesley and he winced in pain, clutching his head. "Hampshire, 1983. Give your father my regards."

And then Wesley was gone as well.

"For the cheerleader, well, how about you see what your love got up all those years before you knew him?"

Angel tried to grab hold of Cordelia, but it was too late and his fist closed on empty air.

"And you, Champion, have fun in Sunnydale, 1998."

Connor didn't even look around to see if his father was gone; it was fairly obvious.

"For Erin O'Neil, a one way trip to Romania, 1992."

Gunn was moving before Vita finished speaking and had both arms wrapped around Erin by the time the date was out. Both vanished together.

Vita shrugged. "Not quite what I had in mind for him, but that should end sufficiently badly."

Connor watched her warily. "Where'd you send them?"

"To their own, personal hell. Weren't you listening?" Vita replied.

"Why?"

"They seemed to believe that pain and suffering was better than nothing."

"So are you gonna send me back to Quor'toth?"

"No point. You're already in Hell, boy. They're all dead, or will be soon enough, and it's all your fault."

Connor finally let himself fall to his knees by his sister. He brushed blood-encrusted hair out of her face. "Can't you bring her back?"

"What would be the point? You'd just let her die again."

Holtz used to say things like that. Hurtful words that crawled under the skin, which you knew weren't true but which had that horrible _but what if _quality about them. Connor couldn't even summon up the old litany of _lies, lies, lies, lies _that had kept him alive and sane as a kid.

Vita turned away, concentrating once more on her forming body. It was about Connor's size now, soon it would be ready.

He was crying now, tears mingling with Holtz' blood, still fresh on his face and splattering across Caitlin's face. Connor pulled his sister up, so she was sitting with her back against his chest, his arms around her and her hair tickling his nose. There was warm blood against his arms now-

Shaking, Connor gently laid her down again. Not warm blood. Just blood and warmth. He placed one hand on Caitlin's blood-covered stomach. Smooth skin, warm with life. With a glance at Vita, who wasn't paying him the least attention, Connor leant forward to whisper in his sister's ear.

"Come back to me."

_Always here, Con. _

"What do I do?" he said, so softly only Caitlin could hear it. Because, in reality, he wasn't speaking any more than Caitlin was.

_You just do it. _

Vita's body was ready. It hurt to look at it was so bright, but Connor could make out a head, torso, limbs. It was the exact same height as the twins, Connor thought, or close enough to make no difference.

_Trust me, Connor. Just do it! _

Connor exploded upwards, grabbing Vita and holding her easily, throwing her away from the body – _from my sister's child! _– and darting in with a kick that sent her rolling away.

But this was wrong, it wasn't Vita, it was _Fred. _Connor knew the difference in his bones and horrified, he was too damn late, he turned back-

The glow of Vita's body was diminished slightly, mainly because it was forced up against Caitlin's solid form. Caitlin's knife was in her hand and she drew it across Vita's throat just like she had for countless demons in two dimensions. The two bodies fit together like puzzle pieces and Caitlin was cramming Vita against her chest.

_Mine. _

"Cait!" Connor yelled, not having any idea what she was doing but wanting her to _stop_, right now.

But Vita's body was shrinking, fading, sinking into Caitlin, who was bloody and beaten but starting to shine.

"Please," he said desperately.

Vita was gone. Caitlin relaxed, shoulders drooping.

But she wasn't really Caitlin anymore, Connor realised. Something had changed. It was like the difference between sunshine in Quor'toth and sunshine in LA. All her life, Caitlin had been diminished, dim. Now she was whole.

_You understand, right, Con? _

"No, I don't."

_Not meant to be here. _

"Yes, you are." He's never been more sure of anything in his life, not even his instinctive disbelieve of Holtz could match the knowledge that they were meant to stay together.

His sister was glowing brighter and brighter, making his eyes water, but he could see her clearly enough. He could see her perfectly. Connor knew his sister's face better than his own.

_I have to go. I killed Vita, so I have to take her place. There are rules, Connor. _

"Fuck the rules," he snapped and, God, he was crying again. "You can't leave me." He was pleading, begging, now, but he'd do anything to stop this happening.

_Don't want to. _

"So _don't. _Stay here."

_Not leaving. Ascending. Better place. _

"How can it be better if I'm left alone?" Connor yelled. "You are not leaving me!"

_No, I'm not. We are one, Connor. Ask Angel about what he did for Darla. He won _one _life. One life for two children. I've been sharing your soul since before I was born and it's not fair to you, Con. _

"Never wanted _fair_."

_I have to do this. You have to let me go. _

"Can't. Won't."

_Can. Will. Must._

"I love you."

And following instructions Caitlin didn't even have to give him, Connor closed his eyes.

_You will live a long time, Connor. A long time. You'll do incredible things. Meet incredible people. _

He could feel Caitlin in his arms, hugging him like she was trying to shut out the rest of the world. "What about you?"

_I'll be the one helping you along. Let me go. _

"Stay with me."

There was the faintest pressure on his forehead, and something was pressed into his hand. Confused, he looked down. The bloody knife, the one covered in Holtz's and Vita's blood was in his hand.

_It'll never let you down. _

When he looked up again, Caitlin was gone.

"Connor?" Fred asked, eyes wide, confused and terrified. "What the hell's going on?"

_And one last thing. _

The rest of Angel Investigations was back in the blink of an eye.

"Okay, what in the hell just happened?" Gunn asked, still with Erin in his arms.

"Connor?" Angel asked.

"Caitlin's gone," Connor replied. He wiped away the bloody kiss from his forehead. "She's gone." And right there, in front of everyone, he started to sob.

xxx

That night Connor returned to the home he had shared with his sister. When had they last been here together? A week ago, a month ago? Before all the craziness had started. Before everything had gone wrong, wrong, wrong.

He gathered up his clothes, stuffing them all into a bag, but he didn't know what to do with Caitlin's things. Finally, Connor packed up the weapons and tools, the books, but left the clothes. Someone would find some use for them.

"How you doing?" Angel asked from the door.

"How do you think?" Connor replied harshly. "My sister's gone."

"What happened in there, after Vita sent us away?" Angel said, watching Connor closely.

Connor paused, thinking. "Caitlin came back," he said at last. "And don't say anything, I know how it sounds. But she came back, she _did, _and she killed Vita and took back her child's life and then took Vita's place as a Power."

"Caitlin ascended?"

"If that's what you want to call it. She's still gone," Connor said angrily.

"But she's alive. Connor, she's _alive._" Angel was smiling now, relief and joy and wonder all tangled up together.

"Curse and a blessing," he replied and quirked a smile. "What Holtz used to call us when he was drunk."

"There was alcohol in Quor'toth?"

"There were people, Dad. What do you think?"

"Some things are universal, huh?"

"Looks like. Give me a hand?" he asked, gesturing to the bag and pile of books.

Angel grabbed the bag, leaving Connor to balance the books. "Con, are you sure Caitlin's okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Connor said. Angel had never called him 'Con' before. That had always been Cait's name for him. Not that Connor minded. Actually, he quite liked it. "How's Fred?"

"Really confused, but okay. Wesley isn't letting her out of his sight."

"You know, I always wondered about those two." Connor risked a sideways glance at his father. "Cordy ok?"

"Yeah, she's great. Why?"

Connor managed not to grin. "No reason."

Caitlin leaving had hurt Connor. Hurt him way more than anything else. But when he shut his eyes, he could still feel her. Like Angel said, she was still alive. Connor had been willing to let the world burn to keep his sister alive, willing to let Vita rule it if it meant he got Caitlin back. He hadn't been willing to let her go, so it kinda figured that that was what he had to do in the end.

He touched the knife at his belt, fingers feeling the engraving around the hilt.

_It'll never let you down, _she had told him. Connor could believe that.

Just like he could believe that this was not the end for him. Not even close.

xxx

In another place, Caitlin watched her brother walk away with her father and managed to smile. Connor would be ok, she was sure of it.

Actually, she really _was_ sure of it. It seemed foresight was a standard for Powers.

"See?" Nemo said. "I told you he'd deal."

"People are more complicated than you think, Nemo," Caitlin replied. "Where's Doyle?"

"In the Happy Hunting Grounds or wherever. I released him from service."

"'Bout time. How long had he been dead anyway?"

"Oh, three, four years. Not long at all, for a spirit. Now, Caitlin, there are some rules about how much you can interfere with your charges."

Caitlin interlaced her fingers and stretched out her hands, hearing the bones crack. "Alright. Let's get to work."

xxx

Six Months Later

LA

_Come on, Con. What the hell is taking so long? _

"Patience, sis," Connor murmured in reply. "They're coming."

Talking to Caitlin like this was easier than he'd thought. She spent so long in Connor's head it was a wonder she got anything else done, he sometimes thought.

_Oh, I get plenty done. Or I would if the others would just turn up already! _

Connor grinned. His fingers were idly tracing the engravings on Caitlin's knife. He did that a lot these days. "Why am I under the post office again?"

_Just trust me. _

He wished the others would just turn up already, as Caitlin put it. Then maybe he'd be able to find out what the hell Caitlin was up to.

Angel and Cordelia arrived first. Six months – and a lot of teasing from Wesley and Fred – had finally moved them past the awkward stage of attraction and into an actual relationship. The gang had paired off quite nicely, actually, with Fred moving into Wesley's apartment. Connor was just waiting for Gunn and Erin to get together – Caitlin and Cordelia said it would happen any day now – and they were all set.

The gang had split up, though. Angel, Connor and Cordelia were still in LA, beating down the undead and pissing off Wolfram and Hart, but Wesley had accepted a role on the New Watcher's Council and was co-ordinating Slayers in New York, with Fred by his side. Lorne had point-blank refused to reopen any sort of bar in LA and had gone to Miami, where the newly bought _Haven _was due to open any week now. Erin and Gunn were – well, no one was really sure what they were doing. Last time Connor had heard anything concrete, they were in Romania.

This spread-out-ness was one of the reasons why it was so hard to get them all back here where Caitlin wanted them. But eventually, they were all there, exchanging hugs and greetings as one by one they assembled. Lorne was last to arrive, as always.

_Finally. _

Connor was the only one that could hear Caitlin. Dutifully, he passed on her instructions to Angel, who followed them willingly, if slightly confused.

There was a flash of brilliant white light and then-

They were standing in a white marble room, all them crammed together by a doorway like a painted arch and Caitlin was standing on the steps in front of them.

Connor ran forward. They two of them just stood there a while, arms wrapped tight around each other. Then they broke away, and Connor slipped off to the side. They never needed to talk, those two.

One by one, Caitlin greeted her family with a smile and a hug. Angel was last. He had believed Connor when he had said that Caitlin had ascended, but the sight of her with her stomach ripped open had never been far from his mind and to have her in his arms again, his daughter, was quite possibly the best feeling ever.

Finally, they pulled back. Caitlin smiled around at them all.

"I won't keep you long," she said. It was still her voice, but the slight hesitation that had always been there before was gone. "I've been having one hell of an argument with Nemo these past few months. He's agreed – finally – that you can be my Champions. If you want."

There wasn't even a moment of hesitation before Gunn whooped. "Damn, girl, what else would we want?"

"What he said," Erin said.

"Are you sure?"

"Quite sure," Wesley added. "Working for hypothetical Powers never did work out well for us."

"And y'all be a hell of an improvement on Vita," Fred said.

"Cordy? I know the visions-"

"Yeah, are those starting up again anytime soon?" Cordelia asked. "'Cause I'm starting to feel a little useless."

"I'll... I'll get right to it."

"Sweetcakes, I'm not much one for fighting these days," Lorne said. "But I'll be honoured to serve you."

"What about you, Angel?" Gunn asked, teasingly. "Think you can stand to work for your own kid?"

"Yeah, I think I can," the vampire replied, grinning.

Caitlin glanced at her brother and he raised one eyebrow, daring her to ask him.

_Always yours, sis. All for you, always all for you. _

She smiled at him. "Thank you. All of you. Now, there is something else I need to ask you. There are rules governing how much I can help you. Following the rules has led the Forces of good into a stalemate. We're not exactly losing, but we're definitely not winning either. I propose to change that. I am willing to do everything in my power to help you win. Vita was right; the arranged Balance is ridiculous. So I say we break it. I help you all I can, and we deal with the consequences as they happen."

"Damn straight," Gunn said.

"What Buffy Summers achieved in Sunnydale as already knocked the balance for six," Caitlin continued. "The Army of Slayers will help us win this war, and the Senior Partners are worried, disorientated. So you have a choice to make. Stalemate, or war?"

"Cait," Connor said. "Do you even need to ask that?"

"Rules, Con."

"Well, I vote for war," he said immediately.

"Me too," said Angel.

One by one, the members of Angel Investigations voted. It was unanimous.

"Perfect," Caitlin said. "Wesley, contact Liam Reilly. There are eight other Hellmouths across the world. We need to close them. Fred, I was hoping you could work on the magical side of that. We don't have a mystical amulet and an ensouled vampire to shut every one down."

"Where are they?" Wesley asked as Fred nodded.

"You'll get the information, don't worry. Gunn, Erin, I want you to work on destroying the Clan."

"Already on it," Erin said. "It's slow going, but we're getting closer."

"Good. Lorne, you'll be rounding up potential Champions and Slayers, anyone who can help us."

"Of course," the demon replied.

Caitlin smiled at the five she had spoken to. "Godspeed, troops. Oh, and pay attention to your dreams. I can't be passing all the information through my boy here."

Connor grinned to himself as there was another flash of light. When it cleared, only Angel, Cordelia and Connor remained with Caitlin.

"Angel, there's something you have to know," she said. "If you join me now, you'll be renouncing the Shanshu prophecy. I'm sorry, but this is a rebellion against the other Powers That Be as much as it is against the Senior Partners. I understand if you want to-"

"I don't," Angel interrupted. "You are my daughter, Caitlin. I'll always be on your side."

She flushed, embarrassed. "Well, then, there is one thing I can do for you."

Angel flinched slightly, his skin tingling. "What was that?"

"Your soul. No can take it from you now, by magic... or curse," she added with a glance at Cordelia. "It was all I could think of to help."

Angel pulled her closer and gently kissed her forehead. "Thank you."

"Well, you're my dad, you know? Had to do something," she replied, still embarrassed.

"So what'll happen about the Shanshu?" Cordelia asked.

"Where, there is Spike," Caitlin said. "I suppose it'll fall to him. Assuming he doesn't join our rebellion, of course."

"Thought Spike was dead. Buffy said he burnt up with the Sunnydale Hellmouth because of some amulet Liam Reilly produced," Angel said.

"Oh, he'll be back," Caitlin said. "Sooner than you might think and all. Cordelia, there's something I want to ask of you. You're the closest thing I ever had to a mother, and had things been different you would've been bloody brilliant at it. So I was hoping you could help me."

"With what?"

"Remember the life Empusa gave me? The one that Vita stole? I have it here, but Powers don't... I can't carry it to term anymore. I was hoping you might."

"Me?" Cordelia asked, shocked and a little flattered.

"She's important, to what comes next. I know it. And she deserves a real life. One with a home and a family."

"You know," Cordelia said, "I always wanted a daughter."

"Thank you," Caitlin said and rested one hand on Cordelia's abdomen. "Congratulations."

"What do you mean, important?" Angel asked.

"Her mom ascended, Dad. What do you think?" Connor said. "Well, sis, got any little gifts for me?" he said flippantly.

"By all rights, I should return your soul to you entirely, Con," Caitlin said softly. "Powers aren't meant to have souls."

"Maybe that's the problem," he said. "Keep it, Cait. You're still my sister, be you human or hellspawn or Power. And I won't let you fall. In any sense."

"I know."

Connor moved forwards until he could lean his forehead against his sister's.

"This is never gonna get easier, is it?" she asked.

"I don't think it's meant to, Cait," he replied.

The light was building up again, preparing to banish him back to LA with his father and Cordelia, leaving Caitlin again. Instinctively, he tightened his grip on her clothes; the same jeans and t-shirt she'd worn as a human. She even still had her scars. Still his sister.

"Oh, and if you end up commanding a group of Slayers and walking into Hell, don't be too surprised," Caitlin murmured against his ear.

"What the-"

And then he was back under the post office, surrounded by his family, real and adopted alike.

Connor grinned. He had been right; this wasn't anywhere close to the end for him, or the others.

"Come on," he said. "We've got work to do."

xxx

_Thus concludes Shades of Grey, however..._

"_This is not the end, or even the beginning of the end, but perhaps it is the end of the beginning." _

_Well, that was one hell of a ride. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Please leave any final comments and criticisms. Thank you to every person who reviewed, especially my faithful anonymous reviewers who I could not thank personally. _


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